Rachel attended the 4th North American Planarian Meeting this weekend at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. Peter Reddien's group hosted the meeting and organized a very successful conference, scientifically and socially. The planarian biology community is still on the smaller side, so these meetings give us a critical opportunity to exchange ideas, solve problems, develop new technologies, and support each other so that we can all do the best science possible. It was wonderful to see my colleagues and friends and to meet new people, too.
Scientific highlights include application of single cell sequencing to several key problems and insight into regeneration of the planarian eye. We also heard some exciting new work from our non-planarian colleagues who study acoels, schistosomes, and tapeworms. Social highlights include an awesome game of "Planarians against humanity" and a visit to see bioluminescent dinoflagellates in Buzzards Bay.
So we send our gratitude for a lovely weekend to the Reddien lab! I hope to see everyone again next year at the Morgridge Institute (Madison, WI) for the International Planarian Meeting! https://morgridge.org/research/regenerative-biology/international-planarian-meeting/
Evening view across Great Harbor.