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Title : Biomechanical cues regulate regeneration and locomotion in hydra.
Speaker : Prof. Sanjeev Galande, Dean, Research & Development, IISER Pune.
Date : 27/01/2021, 05:30 PM , Online Mode.
Abstract
The question of how biophysical forces govern the regeneration process by integrating early injury response with positional cues has been a subject of intense research in recent times in regenerative model organisms, including Zebrafish and Axolotl. Owing to the simple tissue organization and the well-characterized morphallactic regenerative biochemical signaling pathways, Hydra provides an ideal system for developing a model system to study biomechanical regulation. We employed the paradigm of head regeneration in Hydra to understand how tissue damage invokes changes in tissue mechanics and how the mechanical forces can affect the regenerative response. Further, we applied atomic force microscopy on the whole animal to measure the local mechanical properties of body column and identified the existence of differential young’s modulus between the shoulder region versus rest of the body column. We demonstrate that perturbation of observed stiffness gradient in hydra body column by modulating the extracellular matrix (ECM) polymerization impairs the ‘somersaulting’ locomotion in Hydra. Our study indicates a possible early mechanism of the advent of pseudo-skeleton to assist targeted locomotion.
About the speaker:
Dr. Galande obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science in 1996. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA from 1996-2001, he studied cancer biology. Dr. Galande joined the National Centre for Cell Science in Pune, India in 2001 as a senior scientist. In 2010 Dr. Galande joined as a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER Pune). Research in Galande laboratory is focused on studying how the dynamic changes in higher-order chromatin assembly govern gene expression in a spatial and temporal manner. At IISER he leads the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics (CoEE) and has assembled a team of scientists to study the evolution of epigenetic mechanisms using multiple model systems. The CoE in Epigenetics focuses on epigenetic modifications underlying variety of biologically important phenomena and their role in gene expression, regeneration, cancer, behavior, aging and evolution. To fulfill these goals Dr. Galande has established a multidisciplinary program engaged at the interface of biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, cell biology, proteomics and genomics.
Dr. Galande was a recipient of the International Senior Research Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust, UK, from 2005-2010, the National Bioscience award in 2006, the Swarnajayanti Fellowship in 2007, the Shantiswaroop Bhatnagar Award in 2010, the GD Birla Award for Scientific Excellence in 2015, and the JC Bose Fellowship in 2019. Dr. Galande is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, and the National Academy of Sciences (NASI). Prof. Galande is an honorary associate faculty at the University of Sydney, Australia and a visiting faculty at the University of Turku, Finland. Currently he also serves as the Dean, Research and Development at IISER-Pune.
