PEARSON LAB

Stem cells, neural regeneration, and brain cancers

We use the freshwater planarian (Schmidtea mediterranea) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) as model organisms to study how adult stem cells make their precise cellular lineages during neural regeneration following acute injury.  We also study how this biology becomes dysregulated during the formation of brain cancers such as glioblastoma multiforme.

Our overarching goal is to understand the basic biology and molecular mechanisms of neural regeneration at a single-cell level.

SELECTED PAPERS

• Comparative transcriptomic analyses and single-cell RNA sequencing of the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea identify major cell types and pathway conservation.
  Swapna LS, Molinaro AM, Lindsay-Mosher N, Pearson BJ, Parkinson J
  Genome Biology. 2018 Aug 24;19(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s13059-018-1498-x.

• The true colours of the flatworm: Mechanisms of pigment biosynthesis and pigment cell lineage development in planarians.
  Lindsay-Mosher N, Pearson BJ
  Seminars in Developmental Biology. 2018 May 21. pii: S1084-9521(17)30194-5. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.05.010.

• The planarian TCF/LEF factor Smed-tcf1 is required for the regeneration of dorsal-lateral neuronal subtypes.
  David D.R. Brown, Alyssa M. Molinaro, and Bret J. Pearson
  Developmental Biology. 2018 433:374-384.

• FOX and ETS family transcription factors regulate the pigment cell lineage in planarians.
  He X, Lindsay-Mosher N, Li Y, Molinaro AM, Pellettieri J, Pearson BJ.
  Development. 2017 Dec 15;144(24):4540-4551.

• Yorkie is required to restrict the injury responses in planarians.
  Lin AYT, Pearson BJ.
  PLoS Genetics. 2017; 13(7):e1006874.

• A Brain Unfixed: Unlimited Neurogenesis and Regeneration of the Adult Planarian Nervous System.
  Brown DDR, Pearson BJ.
  Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2017; 11:289.

• Neuronal sources of hedgehog modulate neurogenesis in the adult planarian brain.
  Currie KW, Molinaro AM, Pearson BJ.
  eLife. 2016 Nov 19;5.

• In silico lineage tracing through single cell transcriptomics identifies a neural stem cell population in planarians.
  Molinaro AM, Pearson BJ.
  Genome Biology. 2016 Apr 27;17:87.

• HOX gene complement and expression in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.
  Currie KW, Brown DD, Zhu S, Xu C, Voisin V, Bader GD, Pearson BJ.
  Evodevo. 2016 Mar 30;7:7.

• A mex3 homolog is required for differentiation during planarian stem cell lineage development.
  Zhu SJ, Hallows SE, Currie KW, Xu C, Pearson BJ.
  eLife. 2015 Jun 26;4.

• Planarian yorkie/YAP functions to integrate adult stem cell proliferation, organ homeostasis and maintenance of axial patterning.
  Lin AY, Pearson BJ.
  Development. 2014 Mar;141(6):1197-208.

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