Crinoids, (known commonly as feather stars) are part of the echinoderm group that includes sea urchins and starfish. They have shown incredible regrowth potential that could lead to revolutionary advances in human health.
This discovery opens up new possibilities for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, offering hope for patients with degenerative diseases or injuries.
Dr Angela Stevenson, Senior Research Fellow at the Marine Biological Association is on a mission to discover more about these amazing marine invertebrates and their potential impact on human health.
Inspired by nature
“I grew up by the St. Lawrence Estuary – it was literally my front yard – in St-Nicolas, Quebec, Canada. Next to my family house was a tributary with a little waterfall, surrounded by vast forests. I had nature and water all around me, it was difficult to not be curious about it.
The area where we lived was remote, somewhat of a retirement location, so this meant there were few kids or people around most of the year. So, I spent my evenings and weekends playing in the river at high tide and the estuary at low tide. I never felt alone…the incredible biodiversity around me kept me totally captivated. You could say I studied plants and animals in real time, every day, every season, for the first 18 years of my life.
I’ve had many wonderful mentors throughout my journey, but nature itself has been my greatest teacher and closest friend really.”
Making a difference
“Over the years, I witnessed changes in the ecosystem – amphibians near the tributary became harder to find, large fish started washing up on the shoreline (once, even an ancient sturgeon!), and fry populations declined, eventually they disappeared.
It just didn’t look like the lush and vibrant nature I had played with all my life. My young brain knew there was something different and bad about it.
It is this shift that sparked my curiosity about ecology and a desire to make a difference. This passion led me to enrol in a BSc in Marine Science at UBC in Vancouver, British Columbia, where I truly discovered the marine world.
As soon as I could, I earned my diving license, which opened countless new doors. I finally connected face-to-face with the animals I had admired since childhood.”
The fascinating world of crinoids
“Regeneration is widespread among the animal kingdom, but crinoids (all echinoderms really) have an exceptional regeneration ability, and can regenerate most body parts from very little tissue. For example, a salamander will regenerate approximately 4 mm in 6 months, while a crinoid can regenerate up to 1.5 mm per day.
This crinoid (below) has obviously seen better days, it looks like it was stressed or attacked by a predator and lost all of its arms. It even autotomized its stomach, but still it is alive and even regenerating all of its arms.
We have half a billion years of records about these animals, they have ephemeral injuries, and host a quite vibrant metropolis of organisms. I’ve counted up to 10 different taxa, and 20 visible individual on a single feather star!”
What can we learn from crinoids
“Tissue regeneration has captivated human curiosity for millennia, with its origin traced as far back as the ancient Greeks who chronicled the legend of Prometheus and his regenerating liver.
Indeed, the potential for humans to regenerate organs is limited to the liver or skin, but other vertebrates like amphibians exhibit remarkable regenerative abilities and can do what humans cannot: they can regrow amputated limbs.
The aim of our research project is to gain a profound understanding of the unique regenerative ability of crinoids and the impact that this can have on human health.
If successful, our work could pave the way for future cell-based therapies, enabling the regeneration of various tissues and organs and revolutionizing the treatment of numerous diseases.”
Find out more about Dr Stevenson’s work by visiting her research page, Benthic Ecology and Crinoid Biology at the MBA.
