Dr. Celina Juliano | Juliano Lab

Bio:
Dr. Juliano joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2021. She is a developmental biologist with a long-standing interest in stem cell biology. Her doctoral research, mentored by Dr. Gary Wessel at Brown University, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plasticity during sea urchin development. Dr. Juliano completed her post-doctoral work at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Haifan Lin with co-mentoring from Dr. Rob Steele at UC Irvine. At Yale, Dr. Juliano began working with Hydra, a small freshwater cnidarian that continually renews all cell types as an adult and has remarkable regenerative abilities. During her post-doctoral work, she discovered a critical role for the PIWI-piRNA pathway in Hydra stem cells. In her own laboratory at UC Davis, Dr. Juliano continues to use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Juliano was a recipient of the Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator award from the Society for Developmental Biology in 2020 and she was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s fellow in 2024. Dr. Juliano is the founder of the biennial Cnidarian Model Systems Meetings, the founder and director of the annual Hydra Workshop (Marine Biological Laboratory), and a founding board member of the International Society for Regenerative Biology. 

Abstract:
In our laboratory at UC Davis, we use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration. As a starting point, we subjected the adult Hydra to single cell sequencing, created a molecular map of the entire organism, and built differentiation trajectories to describe each stem cell differentiation pathway. This work now serves as a foundation for our research goals, which include dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation, understanding how the conserved injury program triggers developmental pathways during regeneration, and understanding how the Hydra nervous system is able to continually remove and add neurons into neural circuits.

Watch the seminar here!

Dr. Celina Juliano | Juliano Lab

Bio:
Dr. Juliano joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2021. She is a developmental biologist with a long-standing interest in stem cell biology. Her doctoral research, mentored by Dr. Gary Wessel at Brown University, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plasticity during sea urchin development. Dr. Juliano completed her post-doctoral work at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Haifan Lin with co-mentoring from Dr. Rob Steele at UC Irvine. At Yale, Dr. Juliano began working with Hydra, a small freshwater cnidarian that continually renews all cell types as an adult and has remarkable regenerative abilities. During her post-doctoral work, she discovered a critical role for the PIWI-piRNA pathway in Hydra stem cells. In her own laboratory at UC Davis, Dr. Juliano continues to use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Juliano was a recipient of the Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator award from the Society for Developmental Biology in 2020 and she was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s fellow in 2024. Dr. Juliano is the founder of the biennial Cnidarian Model Systems Meetings, the founder and director of the annual Hydra Workshop (Marine Biological Laboratory), and a founding board member of the International Society for Regenerative Biology. 

Abstract:
In our laboratory at UC Davis, we use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration. As a starting point, we subjected the adult Hydra to single cell sequencing, created a molecular map of the entire organism, and built differentiation trajectories to describe each stem cell differentiation pathway. This work now serves as a foundation for our research goals, which include dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation, understanding how the conserved injury program triggers developmental pathways during regeneration, and understanding how the Hydra nervous system is able to continually remove and add neurons into neural circuits.

Watch the seminar here!

Dr. Celina Juliano | Juliano Lab

Bio:
Dr. Juliano joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2021. She is a developmental biologist with a long-standing interest in stem cell biology. Her doctoral research, mentored by Dr. Gary Wessel at Brown University, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plasticity during sea urchin development. Dr. Juliano completed her post-doctoral work at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Haifan Lin with co-mentoring from Dr. Rob Steele at UC Irvine. At Yale, Dr. Juliano began working with Hydra, a small freshwater cnidarian that continually renews all cell types as an adult and has remarkable regenerative abilities. During her post-doctoral work, she discovered a critical role for the PIWI-piRNA pathway in Hydra stem cells. In her own laboratory at UC Davis, Dr. Juliano continues to use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Juliano was a recipient of the Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator award from the Society for Developmental Biology in 2020 and she was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s fellow in 2024. Dr. Juliano is the founder of the biennial Cnidarian Model Systems Meetings, the founder and director of the annual Hydra Workshop (Marine Biological Laboratory), and a founding board member of the International Society for Regenerative Biology. 

Abstract:
In our laboratory at UC Davis, we use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration. As a starting point, we subjected the adult Hydra to single cell sequencing, created a molecular map of the entire organism, and built differentiation trajectories to describe each stem cell differentiation pathway. This work now serves as a foundation for our research goals, which include dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation, understanding how the conserved injury program triggers developmental pathways during regeneration, and understanding how the Hydra nervous system is able to continually remove and add neurons into neural circuits.

Watch the seminar here!

Dr. Celina Juliano | Juliano Lab

Bio:
Dr. Juliano joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2021. She is a developmental biologist with a long-standing interest in stem cell biology. Her doctoral research, mentored by Dr. Gary Wessel at Brown University, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plasticity during sea urchin development. Dr. Juliano completed her post-doctoral work at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Haifan Lin with co-mentoring from Dr. Rob Steele at UC Irvine. At Yale, Dr. Juliano began working with Hydra, a small freshwater cnidarian that continually renews all cell types as an adult and has remarkable regenerative abilities. During her post-doctoral work, she discovered a critical role for the PIWI-piRNA pathway in Hydra stem cells. In her own laboratory at UC Davis, Dr. Juliano continues to use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Juliano was a recipient of the Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator award from the Society for Developmental Biology in 2020 and she was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s fellow in 2024. Dr. Juliano is the founder of the biennial Cnidarian Model Systems Meetings, the founder and director of the annual Hydra Workshop (Marine Biological Laboratory), and a founding board member of the International Society for Regenerative Biology. 

Abstract:
In our laboratory at UC Davis, we use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration. As a starting point, we subjected the adult Hydra to single cell sequencing, created a molecular map of the entire organism, and built differentiation trajectories to describe each stem cell differentiation pathway. This work now serves as a foundation for our research goals, which include dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation, understanding how the conserved injury program triggers developmental pathways during regeneration, and understanding how the Hydra nervous system is able to continually remove and add neurons into neural circuits.

Watch the seminar here!

Dr. Celina Juliano | Juliano Lab

Bio:
Dr. Juliano joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2021. She is a developmental biologist with a long-standing interest in stem cell biology. Her doctoral research, mentored by Dr. Gary Wessel at Brown University, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plasticity during sea urchin development. Dr. Juliano completed her post-doctoral work at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Haifan Lin with co-mentoring from Dr. Rob Steele at UC Irvine. At Yale, Dr. Juliano began working with Hydra, a small freshwater cnidarian that continually renews all cell types as an adult and has remarkable regenerative abilities. During her post-doctoral work, she discovered a critical role for the PIWI-piRNA pathway in Hydra stem cells. In her own laboratory at UC Davis, Dr. Juliano continues to use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Juliano was a recipient of the Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator award from the Society for Developmental Biology in 2020 and she was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s fellow in 2024. Dr. Juliano is the founder of the biennial Cnidarian Model Systems Meetings, the founder and director of the annual Hydra Workshop (Marine Biological Laboratory), and a founding board member of the International Society for Regenerative Biology. 

Abstract:
In our laboratory at UC Davis, we use Hydra as a model to understand, stem cell function, development, and regeneration. As a starting point, we subjected the adult Hydra to single cell sequencing, created a molecular map of the entire organism, and built differentiation trajectories to describe each stem cell differentiation pathway. This work now serves as a foundation for our research goals, which include dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation, understanding how the conserved injury program triggers developmental pathways during regeneration, and understanding how the Hydra nervous system is able to continually remove and add neurons into neural circuits.

Watch the seminar here!

Dr. Felisa Smith | Smith Lab

Bio:
Felisa Smith is a Distinguished Professor in the department of Biology. A conservation paleoecologist, she integrates modern, historic and fossil mammal records to investigate pressing environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Over her career she has worked on organisms from microbes to mammoth, but vastly prefers the latter. Most recently Smith has been using the terminal Pleistocene megafauna extinction as a proxy for understanding modern mammal biodiversity loss. In addition to her 3 books, she has written~120 papers/book chapters in a wide variety of scientific journals, and taught scientific blogging at UNM (http://unm-bioblog.blogspot.com). She has participated in many audio and video programs including National Public Radio, BBC World Service, BBC Earth, and BBC’s Horizon series, German public radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the History Channel as well as numerous print interviews/essays. Felisa was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2020, was awarded the Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists in 2022, and is the 68th recipient of the UM Annual Research Lecturership in 2023. She is currently the President of the American Society of Mammalogists and Past President of the International Biogeography Society.

Abstract:
The conservation status of large-bodied mammals is dire. Their decline has serious consequences because they have unique ecological roles not replicated by smaller-bodied animals. Here, we use the fossil record of the megafauna extinction at the terminal Pleistocene to explore the consequences of past biodiversity loss. We characterize the isotopic and body-size niche of a mammal community in Texas before and after the event to assess the influence on the ecology and ecological interactions of surviving species (>1kg). Pre-extinction, a variety of C₄-grazers, C₃-browsers, and mixed-feeders existed, similar to modern African savannas, with likely specialization among the two sabertooth cats for juvenile grazers. Post-extinction, body size and isotopic niche space were lost, and the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of some survivors shifted. We see mesocarnivore release within the Felidae: the jaguar, now an apex carnivore, moved into the specialized isotopic niche previously occupied by extinct cats. Puma, previously absent, became common and lynx shifted towards consuming more C₄-based resources. Lagomorphs were the only herbivores to shift towards C₄ resources. Body size changes from the Pleistocene to Holocene were species-specific, with some animals (deer, hare) becoming significantly larger, and others smaller (bison, rabbits) or exhibiting no change to climate shifts or biodiversity loss. Overall, the Holocene body size-isotopic niche was drastically reduced and considerable ecological complexity lost. We conclude biodiversity loss led to reorganization of survivors and many ‘missing pieces’ within our community; without intervention, the loss of Earth’s remaining ecosystems that support megafauna will likely suffer the same fate.

Dr. Smith at Texas Memorial Museum

Fossils under study

Cave art showing human hunting

Dr. Felisa Smith | Smith Lab

Bio:
Felisa Smith is a Distinguished Professor in the department of Biology. A conservation paleoecologist, she integrates modern, historic and fossil mammal records to investigate pressing environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Over her career she has worked on organisms from microbes to mammoth, but vastly prefers the latter. Most recently Smith has been using the terminal Pleistocene megafauna extinction as a proxy for understanding modern mammal biodiversity loss. In addition to her 3 books, she has written~120 papers/book chapters in a wide variety of scientific journals, and taught scientific blogging at UNM (http://unm-bioblog.blogspot.com). She has participated in many audio and video programs including National Public Radio, BBC World Service, BBC Earth, and BBC’s Horizon series, German public radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the History Channel as well as numerous print interviews/essays. Felisa was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2020, was awarded the Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists in 2022, and is the 68th recipient of the UM Annual Research Lecturership in 2023. She is currently the President of the American Society of Mammalogists and Past President of the International Biogeography Society.

Abstract:
The conservation status of large-bodied mammals is dire. Their decline has serious consequences because they have unique ecological roles not replicated by smaller-bodied animals. Here, we use the fossil record of the megafauna extinction at the terminal Pleistocene to explore the consequences of past biodiversity loss. We characterize the isotopic and body-size niche of a mammal community in Texas before and after the event to assess the influence on the ecology and ecological interactions of surviving species (>1kg). Pre-extinction, a variety of C₄-grazers, C₃-browsers, and mixed-feeders existed, similar to modern African savannas, with likely specialization among the two sabertooth cats for juvenile grazers. Post-extinction, body size and isotopic niche space were lost, and the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of some survivors shifted. We see mesocarnivore release within the Felidae: the jaguar, now an apex carnivore, moved into the specialized isotopic niche previously occupied by extinct cats. Puma, previously absent, became common and lynx shifted towards consuming more C₄-based resources. Lagomorphs were the only herbivores to shift towards C₄ resources. Body size changes from the Pleistocene to Holocene were species-specific, with some animals (deer, hare) becoming significantly larger, and others smaller (bison, rabbits) or exhibiting no change to climate shifts or biodiversity loss. Overall, the Holocene body size-isotopic niche was drastically reduced and considerable ecological complexity lost. We conclude biodiversity loss led to reorganization of survivors and many ‘missing pieces’ within our community; without intervention, the loss of Earth’s remaining ecosystems that support megafauna will likely suffer the same fate.

Dr. Smith at Texas Memorial Museum

Fossils under study

Cave art showing human hunting

Dr. Felisa Smith | Smith Lab

Bio:
Felisa Smith is a Distinguished Professor in the department of Biology. A conservation paleoecologist, she integrates modern, historic and fossil mammal records to investigate pressing environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Over her career she has worked on organisms from microbes to mammoth, but vastly prefers the latter. Most recently Smith has been using the terminal Pleistocene megafauna extinction as a proxy for understanding modern mammal biodiversity loss. In addition to her 3 books, she has written~120 papers/book chapters in a wide variety of scientific journals, and taught scientific blogging at UNM (http://unm-bioblog.blogspot.com). She has participated in many audio and video programs including National Public Radio, BBC World Service, BBC Earth, and BBC’s Horizon series, German public radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the History Channel as well as numerous print interviews/essays. Felisa was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2020, was awarded the Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists in 2022, and is the 68th recipient of the UM Annual Research Lecturership in 2023. She is currently the President of the American Society of Mammalogists and Past President of the International Biogeography Society.

Abstract:
The conservation status of large-bodied mammals is dire. Their decline has serious consequences because they have unique ecological roles not replicated by smaller-bodied animals. Here, we use the fossil record of the megafauna extinction at the terminal Pleistocene to explore the consequences of past biodiversity loss. We characterize the isotopic and body-size niche of a mammal community in Texas before and after the event to assess the influence on the ecology and ecological interactions of surviving species (>1kg). Pre-extinction, a variety of C₄-grazers, C₃-browsers, and mixed-feeders existed, similar to modern African savannas, with likely specialization among the two sabertooth cats for juvenile grazers. Post-extinction, body size and isotopic niche space were lost, and the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of some survivors shifted. We see mesocarnivore release within the Felidae: the jaguar, now an apex carnivore, moved into the specialized isotopic niche previously occupied by extinct cats. Puma, previously absent, became common and lynx shifted towards consuming more C₄-based resources. Lagomorphs were the only herbivores to shift towards C₄ resources. Body size changes from the Pleistocene to Holocene were species-specific, with some animals (deer, hare) becoming significantly larger, and others smaller (bison, rabbits) or exhibiting no change to climate shifts or biodiversity loss. Overall, the Holocene body size-isotopic niche was drastically reduced and considerable ecological complexity lost. We conclude biodiversity loss led to reorganization of survivors and many ‘missing pieces’ within our community; without intervention, the loss of Earth’s remaining ecosystems that support megafauna will likely suffer the same fate.

Dr. Smith at Texas Memorial Museum

Fossils under study

Cave art showing human hunting

Dr. Felisa Smith | Smith Lab

Bio:
Felisa Smith is a Distinguished Professor in the department of Biology. A conservation paleoecologist, she integrates modern, historic and fossil mammal records to investigate pressing environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Over her career she has worked on organisms from microbes to mammoth, but vastly prefers the latter. Most recently Smith has been using the terminal Pleistocene megafauna extinction as a proxy for understanding modern mammal biodiversity loss. In addition to her 3 books, she has written~120 papers/book chapters in a wide variety of scientific journals, and taught scientific blogging at UNM (http://unm-bioblog.blogspot.com). She has participated in many audio and video programs including National Public Radio, BBC World Service, BBC Earth, and BBC’s Horizon series, German public radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the History Channel as well as numerous print interviews/essays. Felisa was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2020, was awarded the Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists in 2022, and is the 68th recipient of the UM Annual Research Lecturership in 2023. She is currently the President of the American Society of Mammalogists and Past President of the International Biogeography Society.

Abstract:
The conservation status of large-bodied mammals is dire. Their decline has serious consequences because they have unique ecological roles not replicated by smaller-bodied animals. Here, we use the fossil record of the megafauna extinction at the terminal Pleistocene to explore the consequences of past biodiversity loss. We characterize the isotopic and body-size niche of a mammal community in Texas before and after the event to assess the influence on the ecology and ecological interactions of surviving species (>1kg). Pre-extinction, a variety of C₄-grazers, C₃-browsers, and mixed-feeders existed, similar to modern African savannas, with likely specialization among the two sabertooth cats for juvenile grazers. Post-extinction, body size and isotopic niche space were lost, and the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of some survivors shifted. We see mesocarnivore release within the Felidae: the jaguar, now an apex carnivore, moved into the specialized isotopic niche previously occupied by extinct cats. Puma, previously absent, became common and lynx shifted towards consuming more C₄-based resources. Lagomorphs were the only herbivores to shift towards C₄ resources. Body size changes from the Pleistocene to Holocene were species-specific, with some animals (deer, hare) becoming significantly larger, and others smaller (bison, rabbits) or exhibiting no change to climate shifts or biodiversity loss. Overall, the Holocene body size-isotopic niche was drastically reduced and considerable ecological complexity lost. We conclude biodiversity loss led to reorganization of survivors and many ‘missing pieces’ within our community; without intervention, the loss of Earth’s remaining ecosystems that support megafauna will likely suffer the same fate.

Dr. Smith at Texas Memorial Museum

Fossils under study

Cave art showing human hunting

Dr. Felisa Smith | Smith Lab

Bio:
Felisa Smith is a Distinguished Professor in the department of Biology. A conservation paleoecologist, she integrates modern, historic and fossil mammal records to investigate pressing environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Over her career she has worked on organisms from microbes to mammoth, but vastly prefers the latter. Most recently Smith has been using the terminal Pleistocene megafauna extinction as a proxy for understanding modern mammal biodiversity loss. In addition to her 3 books, she has written~120 papers/book chapters in a wide variety of scientific journals, and taught scientific blogging at UNM (http://unm-bioblog.blogspot.com). She has participated in many audio and video programs including National Public Radio, BBC World Service, BBC Earth, and BBC’s Horizon series, German public radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the History Channel as well as numerous print interviews/essays. Felisa was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2020, was awarded the Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists in 2022, and is the 68th recipient of the UM Annual Research Lecturership in 2023. She is currently the President of the American Society of Mammalogists and Past President of the International Biogeography Society.

Abstract:
The conservation status of large-bodied mammals is dire. Their decline has serious consequences because they have unique ecological roles not replicated by smaller-bodied animals. Here, we use the fossil record of the megafauna extinction at the terminal Pleistocene to explore the consequences of past biodiversity loss. We characterize the isotopic and body-size niche of a mammal community in Texas before and after the event to assess the influence on the ecology and ecological interactions of surviving species (>1kg). Pre-extinction, a variety of C₄-grazers, C₃-browsers, and mixed-feeders existed, similar to modern African savannas, with likely specialization among the two sabertooth cats for juvenile grazers. Post-extinction, body size and isotopic niche space were lost, and the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of some survivors shifted. We see mesocarnivore release within the Felidae: the jaguar, now an apex carnivore, moved into the specialized isotopic niche previously occupied by extinct cats. Puma, previously absent, became common and lynx shifted towards consuming more C₄-based resources. Lagomorphs were the only herbivores to shift towards C₄ resources. Body size changes from the Pleistocene to Holocene were species-specific, with some animals (deer, hare) becoming significantly larger, and others smaller (bison, rabbits) or exhibiting no change to climate shifts or biodiversity loss. Overall, the Holocene body size-isotopic niche was drastically reduced and considerable ecological complexity lost. We conclude biodiversity loss led to reorganization of survivors and many ‘missing pieces’ within our community; without intervention, the loss of Earth’s remaining ecosystems that support megafauna will likely suffer the same fate.

Dr. Smith at Texas Memorial Museum

Fossils under study

Cave art showing human hunting