For more information, visit:

http://individual.utoronto.ca/pearsonlab/

Brief Biography

May 2010 to present
Scientist – The Hospital For Sick Children, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Investigator – Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Cancer Stem Cell Program Toronto, Ontario, Canada 
Adult stem cells and tumorigenesis in Planarians

May 2005 to May 2010
Postdoctoral Fellow
Advisor:  Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Adult stem cells and tumorigenesis in Planarians

August 1999 to May 2005
Graduate Student
Advisor:  Dr. Chris Q. Doe

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Institutes of Molecular Biology and Neuroscience
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Temporal identity in Drosophila neuroblast lineages

May 1998 to August 1999
Laboratory Technician
Advisor:  Dr. Nansi Jo Colley

Department of Opthalmology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Potassium-dependent sodium/calcium exchangers in Drosophila development

May 1997 to May 1998
Undergraduate Research
Advisor:  Dr. Sean B. Carroll

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Department of Genetics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Evolution of butterfly wingspot patterns

Research Interests

The main focus in our lab is to understand how adult stem cells make their correct cellular lineage in space and time to replace the exact number and type of cells lost to physiological turnover (homeostasis) or injury (regeneration). Planarians offer a unique system to study stem cell lineage production in adult animals in vivo.

External Funding

Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) New Investigator Award

Achievements

• 2006  Damon Runyon Image Contest
• 2006  Larry Sandler Graduate Thesis Award Runner Up
• 2005  Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Research Award (Given by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

Publications

Pearson BJ, Sánchez Alvarado A. (2010) A planarian p53 homolog regulates proliferation and self-renewal in adult stem cell lineages. Development 137:213-221

Pearson BJ, Eisenhoffer GT, Gurley KA, Rink JC, Miller DE, Sánchez Alvarado A. (2009) A formaldehyde-based whole-mount in situ hybridization method for planarians. Developmental Dynamics 238:443-450.

Pearson BJ, Sánchez-Alvarado A. (2009) Regeneration, stem cells and the evolution of tumor suppression. Cold Spring Harbor Annual Symposium Vol. 73 Control and Regulation of Stem Cells.

Oviedo NJ, Pearson BJ, Levin M, Sánchez Alvarado, A (2008) Planarian PTEN homologs regulate stem cells and regeneration through TOR signaling. Disease Models and Mechanisms 1:131-143.

Ochi H, Pearson BJ, Chuang P-T, Hammerschmidt M, Westerfield M. (2006) Hhip regulates zebrafish muscle development by both sequestering hedgehog and modulating localization of smoothened. Developmental Biology 297:127-140.

Grosskortenhaus R, Pearson BJ, Marusich A, Doe CQ. (2005) Regulation of temporal identity transitions in Drosophila neuroblast lineages. Developmental Cell, 8(2):193-202.

Pearson BJ, Doe CQ. (2004) Specification of temporal identity in the developing nervous system. Ann. Rev. Cell Dev. Bio. Vol. 20:619-647.

Pearson BJ, Doe CQ (2003) Regulation of neuroblast competence in Drosophila. Nature 425:624-628.

Isshiki T, Pearson BJ, Holbrook S, Doe CQ. (2001) Drosophila neuroblasts sequentially express transcription factors which specify the temporal identity of their neuronal progeny. Cell 106:511-521.

Pierce-Shimomura JT, Faumont Serge, Gaston MR, Pearson BJ, Lockery SR. (2001) The homeobox gene lim-6 is required for distinct chemosensory representations in C. elegans. Nature 410:694-698.