Program Coordinator, Professor of Biology

Education
A.B., Regis College
B.S., Ph.D., Boston College

Courses Taught

• Advanced Pathophysiology
• Anatomy & Physiology I & II
• Biochemistry Seminar
• Developmental Biology
• Seminar: History of Biology
• Human Biology
• Immunology
• Introductory Biology I
• Microbiology
• Natural Science: An Integrated Approach

Research Interests
The current focus in the laboratory is the role of the immune system in the process of regeneration. The model system used is the adult newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, and the process studied is forelimb regeneration.

When a limb is amputated, after an acute inflammatory response, the cells at the wound site dedifferentiate and form a tumor-like mass of cells called a blastema. The undifferentiated blastemal tissue then grows, and eventually the cells redifferentiate and undergo pattern formation such that, after about three weeks, a new limb is formed.

There have been suggestions that the ability of human cells to dedifferentiate and form certain cancers is analogous to the process of dedifferentiation and blastema formation in a regenerating newt limb. Knowing the immune system plays a pivotal role in cancer, the question we ask is: What is the role of the newt's immune system in the stages of regeneration, and are there corollaries to the process of cancer and immune responsiveness in mammals?

In addition, other corollary projects have been pursued, including the role of apoptosis in regeneration, factors influencing wound healing, both amputational and non-amputational, and the role of cytokines in regeneration and wound healing.

Other research interests include the areas listed below. Many of these have been developed into day-long and weekend workshops, which I offer each semester at the college as part of Regis' Life Long Learning program. (Some are Web-intensive, distance-learning courses.)

• Psychoneuroimmunology
• Chaos Theory in Medicine
• Plagues: Past, Present & Future
• Medicinal Herbs
• Cardiac-Brain Connection
• Chaos, Gaia & Quantum Theory in Biology
• Medicine & the Gene

Recent Student Research Projects
"Apoptosis as a possible mechanism of resorption induced by amputational and non-amputational wounding in the adult newt"

"Interleukin-2 distribution in adult newts following forelimb regeneration and following non-amputational wounding"

"Proliferative responses of hemopoietic organs of adult newts following traumatic injury and grafting"

"Analysis of plasma proteins from adult newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) during regeneration and following non-amputational wounding"

"Putative immunological influence upon amphibian forelimb regeneration: Reciprocal influences of graft rejection and regeneration"

"Putative immunological influence upon amphibian forelimb regeneration: Mitogenic responsiveness of newt splenocytes following amputational and non-amputational wounding"

Publications
Textbook

• Fundamentals of Immunology. Coleman, R, Lombard, M.F. & R.E. Sicard. 1992. Wm.C. Brown, Publ., Iowa.

Articles

• Sicard, R.E. and M.F. Lombard. 1990. Putative Immunological Influence Upon Amphibian Forelimb Regeneration.II. Effects of X-Irradiation on Regeneration and Allograft Rejection. Biol. Bull. 178: 21-24.
• Sicard, R.E, Lombard, M.F. and A. Babaeva. 1989. Contributions of the Immune System in the Expression of Epimorphic and Tissue/Organ Regeneration: An Historical Survey. American Zoologist 29: 59a.
• Sicard, R.E. and M.F. Lombard. 1989. Epimorphic Regeneration and the Immune System. Pp.107-119 in Recent Trends in Regeneration Research. V. Kiortsis, ed., Plenum. Pub. Corp., New York.
• Sicard, R.E. and M.F. Lombard. 1987. The Immunobiology of Epimorphic Regeneration. Mol. Sci. Res. 15: 1143-1146.