Hey All,
This post is essentially a duplicate of my "new member" post using a different header to try and attract the attention of folks with asterina knowledge.
My name is Scott and I joined reef2reef a few minutes ago. I've had a saltwater tank for 10 years and enjoy the hobby immensely. My day job is Professor of Genetics at a snooty ivy league medical school based in Cambridge/Boston Massachusetts. This day job is actually why I decided to join reef2reef. A few months ago I had a single asterina starfish show up in my tank. It disappeared the next day and I haven't seen any since. This started me reading about these amazing creatures. As most of you probably know, some species of the genus asteroideans can divide asexually by fissiparity, which just means they rip themselves in half (or drop a leg) and then the pieces regenerate full starfish. Truly remarkable. I am wondering if these asterina might make a useful model system for molecular biologists like me to learn how cells and tissues regenerate. The reason I think this is worth doing is that understanding more about how tissues regenerate may have major implications for how we treat people suffering from a variety of injuries and diseases. Anyways, to date there has been very little research done on the asterina species that divide by fissiparity, so you guys are the world's experts. I would love to hear what you know about them. These are the traits that would make a species the perfect model system for me and others; small as possible, easy and cheap to feed, tolerant of low quality water, fast asexual growth, and capable of sexual reproduction (with short life-cycle). If you know anything about asterina, or have run across asterina with some or all of the above qualities, please do let me know. Most importantly, I am curious if anybody has an active asterina infection (and lives near Boston) as I would love to get samples to start my own cultures. Or maybe I could arrange a fed-ex pickup, if you don't live in the Boston area. In the interest of full disclosure, if you do end up giving/sending me your contaminating asterina, some will likely give their lives for science and the study of tissue regeneration. So only respond, if you are ok with this. I certainly understand if you aren't. Finally, if you know of somebody that has had, or is having, an asterina infection...maybe direct them to this post. Hope all is well and I look forward to being part of reef2reef. Scott.
This post is essentially a duplicate of my "new member" post using a different header to try and attract the attention of folks with asterina knowledge.
My name is Scott and I joined reef2reef a few minutes ago. I've had a saltwater tank for 10 years and enjoy the hobby immensely. My day job is Professor of Genetics at a snooty ivy league medical school based in Cambridge/Boston Massachusetts. This day job is actually why I decided to join reef2reef. A few months ago I had a single asterina starfish show up in my tank. It disappeared the next day and I haven't seen any since. This started me reading about these amazing creatures. As most of you probably know, some species of the genus asteroideans can divide asexually by fissiparity, which just means they rip themselves in half (or drop a leg) and then the pieces regenerate full starfish. Truly remarkable. I am wondering if these asterina might make a useful model system for molecular biologists like me to learn how cells and tissues regenerate. The reason I think this is worth doing is that understanding more about how tissues regenerate may have major implications for how we treat people suffering from a variety of injuries and diseases. Anyways, to date there has been very little research done on the asterina species that divide by fissiparity, so you guys are the world's experts. I would love to hear what you know about them. These are the traits that would make a species the perfect model system for me and others; small as possible, easy and cheap to feed, tolerant of low quality water, fast asexual growth, and capable of sexual reproduction (with short life-cycle). If you know anything about asterina, or have run across asterina with some or all of the above qualities, please do let me know. Most importantly, I am curious if anybody has an active asterina infection (and lives near Boston) as I would love to get samples to start my own cultures. Or maybe I could arrange a fed-ex pickup, if you don't live in the Boston area. In the interest of full disclosure, if you do end up giving/sending me your contaminating asterina, some will likely give their lives for science and the study of tissue regeneration. So only respond, if you are ok with this. I certainly understand if you aren't. Finally, if you know of somebody that has had, or is having, an asterina infection...maybe direct them to this post. Hope all is well and I look forward to being part of reef2reef. Scott.