Study of Planarians Offers Insight into Germ Cell Development

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Phillip Newmark a professor of cell and developmental biology and graduate student Yuying Wang report that planarians share some important characteristics with mammals that may help scientists tease out the mechanisms by which germ cells are formed a ...
Phillip Newmark, a professor of cell and developmental biology, and graduate student Yuying Wang report that planarians share some important characteristics with mammals that may help scientists tease out the mechanisms by which germ cells are formed and maintained. Credit: Photo by Brian Stauffer

The planarian is not as well known as other, more widely used subjects of scientific study – model creatures such as the fruit fly, nematode or mouse. But University of Illinois cell and developmental biology professor Phillip Newmark thinks it should be. As it turns out, the tiny, seemingly cross-eyed flatworm is an ideal subject for the study of germ cells, precursors of eggs and sperm in all sexually reproducing species.


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