| Affiliations: | DeBakey Research Leadership Program |
| Project Leader: |
Ian Xia |
| Faculty Mentor: | Dr. Regina Brunauer, Ph.D. |
|
Meeting Times:
|
R 2:00PM and TBA |
|
Team Size:
|
5
|
| Open Spots: | 0 |
|
Special Opportunities:
|
Able to experience an internationally recognized lab conducting high impact, cutting edge research. Gain valuable and transferable skills in a biomedical setting, including a strong understanding of MATLAB and ImageJ. Great opportunity to potentially co-author a publication that you can bring out to bolster your academic and professional “street cred”.
|
|
Team Needs:
|
Highly motivated, independent, committed, and critically thinking students who are willing to learn about the regenerative process in mammals. General skills that are desired include: familiarity with coding, understanding of basic image processing, basic understanding of MATLAB and/or Python syntax, and ability to work on independent directions and in small teams.
|
|
Description:
|
Almost 1 out of 200 Americans is an amputee. Meaning that more than 1.7 million people are living with limb loss in the United States, and this number is projected to double by 2050, reaching an upwards of 3.6 million. Thus, regeneration of body parts, especially limbs, has long captured the imaginations both scientists, healthcare providers, and the public. For example, popular culture is abound with characters who can regenerate body parts heal after injuries that would normally be fatal. Yet, the dream of regeneration of body parts, like the dreams of George Milton and Lennie Smalls in Steinbeck’s classic novella, have remained thus far elusive. This all being said, new research on the diminutive third phalangeal (P3) digit is beginning to unearth possible new ways to essentially re-grow that which could not be had once lost. Regeneration itself is actually not a process rooted in fantasy. Our bodies regenerate cells every day, constantly replacing tissues like skin or the lining of our stomachs. However, this homeostatic regeneration differs in contrast to epimorphic regeneration of complex organs or limbs that is common in vertebrates such as salamanders and axolotls. Currently, research done on these tissues, as well as many other tissues, is limited to a 2.5-dimensional understanding. By slicing tissues in known thickness sheets, a more solid understanding of tissue progression and regeneration is lost due to the focus on only the centermost layers. In order to fix this problem, we want to develop an open-source methodology for converting stacks of tissue layers into three dimensional images which can be analyzed to view tissues as entire sections. This project will primarily use ImageJ, one of the most popular open-source image analysis software used in academia, and MATLAB, a coding environment focused on intensive simulation packages used in both industry and research. This project can be done remotely, and all accommodations will be made to ensure safety in the current pandemic. |