Latina Neuroscientist Looks for Nerve-Healing Genes

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

There’s something to learn from the way the California Blackworm regenerates the injured parts of it’s body. It’s one of those marvels of nature where life can re-create parts of itself, with no apparent effort. There’s a secret that could be uncovered that could eventually help humanity.

That’s what Dr. Veronica Martinez Acosta is trying to discover in her laboratory at the University of the Incarnate Word, in San Antonio, Texas.

Working with a Department of Defense Research and Education Grant, Dr. Acosta has been studying the worm’s wound regeneration with the hope of replicating the process in larger mammals – rats, then monkeys and eventually humans; specifically the human nervous system.

The idea is to figure out how the worm renews itself, then find a way to replicate the process, so that eventually the human nervous system can be helped to help itself.

The procedure is as complicated as the worm’s scientific name – Lumbriculus Variegatus: First they injure the adult worms, then they isolate the genes from the tissue being expressed at that time. Then they look at all this gathered material under a microscope to find changes at the genetic and protein level.

Dr. Acosta explains:

Pixie dust, genetic therapy or something like it, to help humans heal their wounded nervous system.

Helping Latinos in STEM

But that’s not all Dr. Acosta is accomplishing with the DOD grant.

The research allows her to identify students from underserved communities and mentor them along a STEM career path.

It’s another of her passions, she says:

Both of Dr. Acosta’s grant research students will be returning to her lab next semester.

[Photos by NewsTaco]

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