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Title: Nociception and escape behavior in planarians Abstract: Planarians are famous and widely studied for their regenerative capabilities. When a moving planarian is cut through the middle, the resulting head and tail pieces instantaneously retract and the head piece exhibits a characteristic escape response that differs from normal locomotion. In asexual animals, a similar reaction is observed when the planarian undergoes fission, suggesting that reproduction through self-tearing is a rather traumatic event for the animal. Using a multiscale approach, we unravel the dynamics, mechanics, and functional aspects of the planarian escape response. We show that this musculature-driven gait is a dominating response that supersedes the urge to feed or reproduce and quantitatively differs from

Department:  Bioengineering

Contact: Carlos Cabezas | 650-498-6135 | cabezas@stanford.edu

Presenter(s):

• Eva-Maria Schoetz Collins Assistant Professor, UCSD

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