Principal Investigator: Christopher April Co-Investigator: Lily Wetherbee Co-Investigator: David Pacitto

1. Planarian Worms Principal Investigator: Christopher April Co-Investigator: Lily WetherbeeCo-Investigator: David Pacitto

2. Will the regeneration rate of a planarian worm be affected by microgravity?? • Studies have shown that planarian worms are able to regenerate in a gravity based environment. • This experiment will compare regeneration, if it can take place, in a microgravity environment.

3. Planarian worms are flat worms that have an amazing ability to regenerate. • In their environment they are scavengers. • They live under rocks in still water ponds. • Planarians are free living animals. • In the natural environment the planaria reproduce by fission.

4. Experimental Road Block • The original experimental design was to cut the worms in half. • Launch complications altered the time frame, requiring revisions to our experiment. We needed some HELP! Dr. Sanchez Alvarado, an expert planarian worm investigator from The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, guided us to train the worms to regenerate by fission.

5. Experimental Design • By starving, crowding, and conditioning them to a cool, low oxygen environment we expect the worms to regenerate over a longer period of time.

6. Experimental Design Continued • F.M.E tube will contain neutral buffered formalin, six planarian worms and Fiji water. • The astronauts will release a clamp that holds the formalin preserving the worms for further examination.

7. Analyzing Data • Our hypothesis is that the lack of gravitational force will not allow the planarian worms to pull apart (through binary fission) and regenerate. • The expectation is when our mini lab returns to earth there will still be only six worms in the tube. Process: • Upon returning to Earth we will open the mini lab and review how many worms were preserved by the formalin that the astronauts mixed with the planarians. • We will also look at any differences in the worms’ eye spots.

8. Acknowledgements: A sincere thank you to the following community members, organizations and partners for providing this research opportunity. Robinson Physical TherapySensata TechnologiesShelter TreeSidelines Seal Coating & Line Painting CompanySousa & DeMayo, Inc.The Artcraft CompanyW.R. Sharples Company, Inc.W.H. Riley & Son Contributors: Dr. Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado, Mark Dooner, Hobbs Family Private Donors: Bates Family, CobbsFamily, Copley Family, Superintendent Susan Cullen, Dion Family, Dusel Family, Ekk Family, Everton Family, Ferrigno Family, Foster Family, Hanson Family, Hobbs Family, Lagasse Family, LeStage Family, Levesque Family, Menard Family, Moscowitz Family, Moynihan Family, Nerz Family, Oliver Family, Opdycke Family, Pirri Family, Poirier Family, Short Family, Sweet Family, Wagner Family, Weiner-Jackson Family, West Family, Yeomans Family, Young Family, ZarrelaFamily SSEP Community Program Co-DirectorPrincipal-Victoria Ekk Partner InstitutionsNorth Attleborough Middle SchoolNorth Attleborough Public Schools American Firearms School, LLCChartwell International, Inc., Checon Corporation, Compu-Call, Inc., Cryan Landscape Contractors, Inc.Dyer-Lake Charitable Foundation, Inc.E.A. Dion, Inc.Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Stowers Institute for Medical ResearchiAutomationICG Consultants Corp.Kid’s Day, Mini Systems ,Inc.,North Attleboro Industrial Park AssociationNorth Attleboro School CommitteeNorth Attleborough Public Schools-RA Smith Educational FundOff the Leash Doggie Daycare, Inc.Rhode Island Hospital, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Center for Stem Cell Biology Research