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Friday Evening Lecture Series
07/23/10
Lillie Auditorium, 8:00 PM
"Dying Young as Late in Life as Possible: Stem Cells, Tissue Renewal, and Regeneration" - Distinguished Alumni Lecture
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, University of Utah School of Medicine; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Introduction by Dr. Nipam Patel
Lecture Abstract:
What good is long life without youthful vigor? When the goddess Eos fell in love with Tithonus, a mere mortal, Zeus granted him the imperfect gift of immortality: Tithonus lived forever but did not stop aging, thus condemning his existence to one of eternal decrepitude. In nature, organisms exist that can be said to remain perennially youthful, and consequently die young as late in life as possible. Dr. Sánchez Alvarado will discuss what fundamental lessons such an organism is teaching us about stem cell regulation, tissue homeostasis, regeneration and our own biology.
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine. The goal of his laboratory is to identify and characterize the molecular components underpinning regeneration using the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea as a model. To better understand the biology of these organisms, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado’s laboratory is developing molecular tools for its study such as clonal lines, loss-of-function assays using RNA interference, a collection of >10,000 non-redundant cDNAs and batteries of immunological and fluorescent labeling reagents, as well as a recently finished and annotated genome. Dr. Sánchez Alvarado received his bachelor’s degree in 1986 from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. in 1992 from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and was formerly a staff associate at Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Embryology. He has been on the faculty of the MBL Embryology Course since 2004, and is a 1995 alumnus of the course. He has received numerous awards, honors, and fellowships, including the H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Utah (2010); Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award (2009-2013), a MERIT Award from NIH/NIGMS (2009-2019); and a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellowship (2008). He is a member of numerous scientific and editorial boards, and has authored more than 50 scientific articles and book chapters, and two patent applications.
Dr. Nipam Patel will introduce Dr. Sanchez Alvarado. Dr. Patel is professor of Molecular Cell Biology and Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-director of the MBL Embryology course. He studies the evolutionary changes responsible for generating the diversity of life we see on Earth today, with a specific focus on the evolution of body patterning and segmentation at the molecular and genetic level. Dr. Patel received an A.B. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Before moving to Berkeley, he was a staff associate in the Department of Embryology at the Carnegie Institution, visiting fellow at the Australian National University, and a professor at the University of Chicago. Dr. Patel is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Regeneration Project of the University of Florida and has been awarded numerous honors including an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, McKnight Scholars Neuroscience Fellowship Award, the Butler Chair at the UC Berkeley, and is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He currently holds editorial positions with the journals Evolution and Development, Development Genes and Evolution, Developmental Biology, Evo-Devo, and American Naturalist, and is an editor for the journal Development.
MBL Distinguished Alumni Lecture
MBL Alumni are often leaders in their fields and hold positions at every major research institution in the world. We are proud their contributions to science and grateful for the enrichment they bring to the MBL by referring students to our courses, returning as faculty or investigators themselves, serving on volunteer boards, and giving their financial support.
In recognition of the vital role MBL alumni play in the life sciences and in our institution, we are pleased to present the Distinguished Alumni Friday Evening Lecture.
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