Hydra and Humanized Organisms
Channel: Peter Allen
Date: 2021-10-11

Humanized organisms sound disturbing, but are actually really interesting and useful. Changing an organism to make some part more biologically human makes the organism a better model for human disease. I got to thinking about humanized organisms while I was reading about hydra. Hydra make good models to study the biology of aging because they seem to be immortal: they don't seem to age at all. Could we learn more with a humanized hydra? Will we need to kill it with fire?

Allen Lab Vlog #313, 10/10/2021

References:
Galliot, Brigitte. “Hydra, a Fruitful Model System for 270 Years.” International Journal of Developmental Biology 56, no. 6-7–8 (July 27, 2012): 411–23. https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.120086bg.

Klimovich, Alexander, Jörg Wittlieb, and Thomas C. G. Bosch. “Transgenesis in Hydra to Characterize Gene Function and Visualize Cell Behavior.” Nature Protocols 14, no. 7 (July 2019): 2069–90. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-019-0173-3.

Jia, Hongpeng, Xinping Yue, and Eric Lazartigues. “ACE2 Mouse Models: A Toolbox for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research.” Nature Communications 11, no. 1 (October 14, 2020): 5165. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18880-0.

Big thanks to Snowman for the comic!
https://www.instagram.com/snowman.s.w/


Image credits:
Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

https://bit.ly/3lvweUL



tim1205, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hydra_4x.jpg



Jon Houseman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hydr1000.webm


CJM1979, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Hydra.jpg


Землеройкин, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%93%D0%B8%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B01.jpg



Endie2009, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transgenic_hydra_endo.gif


Licenses:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/