https://www.rozariolab.org/news daily 0.75 2025-03-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/78316cfc-0135-49fd-81e2-30f3435232c2/SDB2024.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1663260551817-A4AER1P3BNF6YUFZ3RE2/SDB2022_Elise+and+Tania.JPG https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1649339791599-7KP8L1CAW4CQ3V7TH9GM/IMG_7465.jpeg News - Congratulations to Rachel and Medha on their poster presentations! Awesome posters at the CURO Symposium 2022! https://www.rozariolab.org/news/niaiddp2 monthly 0.5 2021-06-15 https://www.rozariolab.org/research daily 0.75 2025-03-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1623688172658-BAB67LPMOEXTK6Q90DFY/Hdim_3t1o+copy.png Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1623687121348-E38DS1FU8Y2A3STO6BKP/Project_SSC.001.jpeg Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1623687844444-G0IEUJ5PF27MXSVT9LYS/B4gat1_nanos.jpg Research https://www.rozariolab.org/people daily 0.75 2025-03-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/fea75058-bf9b-46f3-abb2-85130494d322/Rozario_headshot+copy.jpg People - Tania Rozario (PI) Tania Rozario got her BA from Wesleyan University, CT, PhD from the University of Virginia and completed her postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Phillip A. Newmark at the Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI. She joined the University of Georgia in 2021 as an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and the Department of Genetics. Her work established H. diminuta as a tractable model organism for the study of stem cells with the goal of uncovering how these monstrous parasites achieve feats of growth, regeneration, and reproduction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/99dbbeea-70e6-45dd-b14c-b028843a29f7/Izzy_lab_photo.jpg People - Izzy Skipper (Lab Technician) Izzy got her BSc from the University of Georgia and is our tapeworm-wrangler extraordinaire! Among many things, she is working on understanding how Wnt signaling regulates stem cells and regeneration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/e20d4669-efcc-4017-8591-06dcb2177191/CR_website_pic.jpg People - Corey Rennolds (Postdoc) Corey got this PhD studying annelids at the University of Maryland and has now joined the flatworm family. He is working on characterizing molecular markers of stem cell subpopulations and understanding their potency and plasticity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/a2c5dbfa-707b-41dc-a04a-5564f5d3fb5b/Cierra_website-2.jpg People - Cierra Gladfelter (Graduate Student) Cierra got her BSc from the Colorado School of Mines. She is interested in exploring early stages of germ cell development in H. diminuta with a particular focus on the role of nanos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/13d4d7db-7de8-47df-b9d6-18d08f11b055/EN_website_pic.jpg People - Elise Nanista (Graduate Student) Elise got her BSc from the University of Georgia in Biological Sciences, worked as a technician in the lab and we are delighted to welcome her back as a graduate student!. Elise’s focus is on uncovering the germ cell niche. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/311d5879-e2e5-4506-9fc5-c4489e37ee2b/Chandler_website.jpg People - Chandler Lowe (Graduate Student) Tobias Keene, D.D.S. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Tobias Keene brings a bit of unabashed Southern hospitality to all his patients. He moved to Washington, D.C. over thirty years ago as a freshman at Ivy College. Right after graduation, he attended World University’s School of Dentistry. Before opening Keene Dental in 1994, he worked for free clinics and some of the finest practices in the District. He is part of the 123 Dental Association and stays up-to-date on the latest dental discoveries. When not striving to keep his patients happy and healthy, he’s enjoys hiking with his family in Rock Creek Park. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/e42bb5c1-2ce8-41df-97c3-e47890980e4b/Lanni_lab_photo.jpg People - Lanni Poythress (Undergraduate Researcher) Lanni is exploring how cell proliferation is affected by different amputation paradigms with the goal of uncovering how the tapeworm head regulates stem cell behaviors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/7079986c-997b-44b1-9cb4-feb967fb54ea/Luke_lab_photo.jpg People - Luke You (Undergraduate Researcher) Tobias Keene, D.D.S. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Tobias Keene brings a bit of unabashed Southern hospitality to all his patients. He moved to Washington, D.C. over thirty years ago as a freshman at Ivy College. Right after graduation, he attended World University’s School of Dentistry. Before opening Keene Dental in 1994, he worked for free clinics and some of the finest practices in the District. He is part of the 123 Dental Association and stays up-to-date on the latest dental discoveries. When not striving to keep his patients happy and healthy, he’s enjoys hiking with his family in Rock Creek Park. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/f38d0cd6-c08f-4c80-87f9-1e532e556ecb/AlexisU_lab_photo.jpg People - Alexis Uwakwe (Undergraduate Researcher) Alexis (together with Luke) is mining our single cell sequencing atlas to uncover stem cell subpopulations, progenitors, and tissues specific markers. Her studies will enable us to understand differentiation trajectories of stem cells, and how they change during regeneration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/eddd0124-caa3-4ef3-aeca-7d7f2b073a79/Femi_lab_photo.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/9650ffde-df9f-4335-a27c-e39b9ef37c63/Rachel_website.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1647011149432-DFLLHMT8Q0MSIV3NS0M1/MedhaG_websiet2021.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/f372a18f-fc5a-48f3-b260-66c121045249/Trevor_website.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/458b2f74-41bf-44e3-b53b-43f71451aca7/BC_website_pic.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/2ca1e8b8-cb96-4baf-8cf9-9ccedbfb5190/Logan_website.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/3f87273d-c82a-463a-b4df-ce1d339123e3/Grace_website.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/fee58caf-c20c-41da-a33f-d52b139b0e6e/Ishan_website.jpg https://www.rozariolab.org/publications daily 0.75 2025-10-21 https://www.rozariolab.org/contact daily 0.75 2022-09-15 https://www.rozariolab.org/home daily 1.0 2022-09-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1623685647245-I551RDZYZM70GJPLYWIO/Hdim_mature.jpg Home - A resurrected model The rat tapeworm was a favorite study animal among parasitologists until the mid-20th century when it was left behind by the molecular biology revolution. We have established a host of modern molecular tools to reinvigorate Hymenolepis diminuta as a model organism to study the extraordinary physiology of these parasites. We are particularly interested in stem cell regulation of growth, regeneration, and reproduction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1623692795270-98UFTL5B5LSBY0RXOS9U/Hdim_3p.png Home - H. diminuta life cycle H. diminuta requires two hosts: rats and beetles. Beetles like the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, host larval stages of H. diminuta until they reach the infective cysticercoid stage. When cysts are fed to rats, the juvenile tapeworm emerges and takes up residence in the small intestine. A newly existed tapeworm is barely 0.2 mm in length but will reach an equilibrium length of 60 cm in the rat. The adults grow by adding hermaphroditic segments/proglottids that become increasingly mature toward the posterior ends, and cross-fertilize to become gravid. Through the process of apolysis, gravid proglottids are shed with the rat excrement where they can be consumed by a beetle to complete the life cycle https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c75cf507d4a9705b795ae9/1623693653413-UUWNPNEZJM4AG4H3CIJT/Cartoons_Development.png Home - Growth and Regeneration The adult tapeworm body plan consists of a head with a central rostellum and four suckers that are used to latch onto intestinal microvilli, an unsegmented region called the neck or germinative region, and a strobilated body made of thousands of segments/proglottids. The proglottids bud from the neck region which serves as a growth zone from which seemingly unlimited growth is possible. The neck is also the only region that can regenerate proglottids in a stem cell-dependent manner. However, stem cells are maintained throughout the whole body of the worm (regardless of regeneration-competence). Instead, microenvironmental signals in the head-neck region are necessary for regenerative ability. The identity of these signals remain unknown and elucidating them is an active area of research in our lab