Lens Development & Regeneration

Mechanisms of lens development and regeneration

Our early adopter for using the XYClone laser for selective cell ablation is Dr. Jon Henry, Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. His studies focus on regeneration of cells, particulary mechanisms of lens development and regeneration. Although his emphasis has been in studies of Xenopus laevis (frog), Dr. Henry also studies Crepidula fornicata (slipper snail mollusk), Ophryotrocha labronica (marine polyclaete annelid), planarians (flatworms), to name a few. His intention is to use the XYClone laser system to ablate cells during development, ablate the eye/eye parts to study regeneration, ablate other structures in the animal to disrupt function and study compensation/regeneration.

See the Open Access research paper: Lyons DC, Perry KJ, Lesoway MP, Henry JQ. Cleavage pattern and fate map of the mesentoblast, 4d, in the gastropod Crepidula: a hallmark of spiralian development. Evodevo. 2012 Sep 19;3(1):21. doi: 10.1186/2041-9139-3-21. PubMed PMID: 22992254. Open Access Article

All photos below are courtesy Dr. Jon Henry.

Before and after laser ablation of planarian photoreceptors

Planaria laser ablation of photoreceptors

Before and after laser ablation of slipper snail daughter cell (micromere)

 Slipper snail laser ablation of micromere

Before and after laser ablation of C. elegans egg cell

 C. Elegans laser ablation

Crepidula fornicata: Successive stages in the death of the 4d mesentoblast cell following laser ablation

Crepidula fornicata llaser ablation of 4d mesentoblast