Sea Cucumber Tissue Survives Years in Microbial Seawater, Challenging Regeneration Models
Researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences reported that detached tissue from the cold-water sea cucumber Psolus fabricii remained viable and grew for over three years in natural, microbe-rich seawater. Published in Science Advances, the study found that these explants absorbed amino acids directly from the water to fuel healing and cell differentiation, bypassing the need for sterile, axenic laboratory conditions. This discovery suggests a new model for biological resilience and offers a potential low-cost, invertebrate alternative to traditional human cell lines for biomedical research.
