The Voskoboynik Lab at Hopkins Marine Station
The Colonial Tunicate Botryllus schlosseri
A marine model for stem cell research and evolution of the immune system
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The Voskoboynik Lab studies how stem cells and immune cells co-evolve to mediate development, organogenesis, aging, and self non-self recognition, using the colonial marine species Botryllus schlosseri.
Featured Publications
Electrical stimulation promotes longevity and regeneration in a colonial chordate
Complex mammalian-like haematopoietic system found in a colonial chordate
Nature MS
John Steinbeck on Botryllus schlosseri colonies:
"Each member of the colony is an individual animal, but the colony is another individual animal, not at all like the sum of its individuals. Here are two animals, yet the same thing. Which is the animal, the colony or the individual? . . . Why it's two animals and they aren't alike any more than the cells of my body are like me."
—The Log from the Sea of Cortez