Thomas W. Holstein

This study investigates the dynamic genomes of Hydra, revealing active transposable elements (TEs) that contribute to genome size variation and structural changes, with evolutionary implications for eukaryotic genomes.

The paper identifies two distinct stem cell lineages in Hydra, germline and somatic, and finds shared stemness genes with origins in unicellular eukaryotes.

This paper re-examines the structure of the Hydra nerve net using immunostaining and imaging, revealing two distinct nerve nets in ectoderm and endoderm with no contact between them.

This study shows that Hydra uses two separate patterning loops for body axis and head formation, challenging the previous single-loop model.

This study investigates how Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates spatio-temporal elasticity patterns in Hydra's extracellular matrix during morphogenesis.

This study identifies HAS-7, an astacin proteinase, as a Wnt processing factor that regulates head formation in Hydra by controlling Wnt ligand activity and axis patterning.

This study identifies MAPK signaling as a critical pathway linking injury response to Wnt-regulated patterning in Hydra regeneration.

This study develops CRISPR-Cas9 and siRNA delivery methods for genetic manipulation in Hydra, enabling reliable gene interference and functional studies.