Shaken Not Stirred
The Effect of Vibration on Planarian Regeneration Speed
Background
- There is a large demand for organ transplants in the United States and around the globe.
- When one of a person’s organs fails, it often means that
- they need a replacement from a living or very recently dead human being.
- Currently, there are not enough donated organs to keep up with demand.
- >100,000 patients in the United States are on the waiting list
- 13 patients die each day while waiting for a donation
- A method to generate new organs for use in transplants without a donor would be lifesaving.
Rationale
- Studying the regeneration methods of planaria as well as other models can help inform researchers when designing methods for humans
- The data collected in this study hopefully has expanded the data known about this organism, and in the study of regenerative tissue.
- Cheap and easy methods of accelerating regeneration (such as vibration) would be invaluable when regeneration becomes possible large-scale.
