Stowers Postdoc Shares Insights From MBL’s Embryology Course | Stowers Institute Microbiologystudy

Q&A with Ekasit Sonpho, Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Sánchez Alvarado Lab

What is your research focus in the Sánchez Alvarado Lab?

In the Sánchez Alvarado Lab, we are interested in regeneration biology, leveraging various research organisms such as planarian flatworms, apple snails, and killifish. I am particularly interested in planarians, which are tiny freshwater flatworms that possess incredible tissue regeneration capabilities. If you cut a tiny portion from a planarian’s tail, that fragment can regenerate an entire body! This offers us an extraordinary platform to study stem cell biology.

Many researchers have focused on the complex processes occurring within stem cells called neoblasts, which are the only source of proliferating cells in the planarian body and are essential for planarian physiology.

However, my research focuses on something beyond the cellular compartment. I am interested in connective tissue, which serves as the microenvironment surrounding all cells in planarians, including neoblasts. The tissue physically connecting cells has been shown to regulate the stem cell microenvironment, significantly impacting stem cell activity in many vertebrate models. But the way in which it regulates highly pluripotent stem cells, like those in planarians, is not yet fully understood.

The Embryology course at the MBL is world-renowned. Ever since becoming a postdoc at the Stowers Institute in 2021, I have wanted to attend. However, I held off, to allow myself time to better establish my postdoc research program; having a clear research plan allows me to truly know what ideas and concepts I would be looking to enhance at the MBL.

I finally applied in 2024 as I was entering the senior phase of my postdoc training. I knew I needed hands-on experience working with different research organisms. These skills are essential for my future career plans as a Principal Investigator. Being exposed to diverse research organisms throughout the course impacted the direction of my current project.