Alexa Bely

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Professor
Director of Biology Honors Program


Contact 
Email: abely@umd.edu
Office Phone: 301.405.0225
Lab: 301.405.0239
Fax: 301.314.9358
Office Address: 0220 Bio-Psychology Bldg
Bely Lab website 

Graduate Program Affiliations
  • BISI - BISI-Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, & Systematics (BEES)
  • BISI - BISI-Molecular & Cellular Biology (MOCB)

Research Interests 
Evolution of regeneration and asexual reproduction; invertebrate biology; freshwater biology.

Recent Publications
  • Zattara, EE, FA Fernández-Álvarez, TC Hiebert, AE Bely, and JL Norenburg (2019). A phylum-wide survey reveals multiple independent gains of head regeneration in Nemertea. Proc. Roy. Soc. B. 286: 20182524.
  • Boilly, B, Boilly-Marer, Y, and AE Bely (2017). Regulation of dorso-ventral polarity by the nerve cord during annelid regeneration: a review of experimental evidence. Regeneration 4:54–68
  • Goodheart, JA and AE Bely (2017). Sequestration of nematocysts by divergent cnidarian predators: mechanism, function, and evolution. Invertebrate Biology. 136(1): 75–91.
  • Zattara, EE and AE Bely (2016). Phylogenetic distribution of regeneration and asexual reproduction in Annelida: regeneration is ancestral and fission evolves in regenerative clades. Invertebrate Biology. 135(4): 400-414. (DOI: 10.1111/ivb.12151.)
  • Özpolat, BD, ES Sloane, EE Zattara, and AE Bely (2016). Plasticity and regeneration of gonads in the annelid Pristina leidyi. EvoDevo 7(1):22.
    (DOI: 10.1186/s13227-016-0059-1)
  • Özpolat, BD and AE Bely (2016). Developmental and molecular biology of annelid regeneration: a comparative review of recent studies. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 40:144–153. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2016.07.010)
  • Zattara, EE, KW Turlington, and AE Bely (2016). Long-term time-lapse live imaging reveals extensive cell migration during annelid regeneration. BMC Developmental Biology 16:6. (DOI: 10.1186/s12861-016-0104-2)
  • Özpolat, BD and AE Bely (2015). Gonad establishment during asexual reproduction in the annelid Pristina leidyi.  Developmental Biology. 405: 123-136. (DOI:10.1016/j.ydbio.2015.06.001)
  • Zattara, EE and AE Bely (2015). Fine taxonomic sampling of nervous systems within Naididae (Annelida: Clitellata) reveals evolutionary lability and revised homologies of annelid neural components. Frontiers in Zoology.12:8. (DOI: 10.1186/s12983-015-0100-6)
  • Bely, AE, EE Zattara, and JM Sikes (2014). Regeneration in spiralians: evolutionary patterns and developmental processes. International Journal of Developmental Biology. 58: 623-634. (DOI: 10.1387/ijdb.140142ab)
  • Bely, AE (2014). Early events in annelid regeneration: a cellular perspective. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 54(4): 688-699.
    (DOI: 10.1093/icb/icu109)
  • Zattara, EE and AE Bely (2013). Investment choices in post-embryonic development: quantifying interactions among growth, regeneration, and asexual reproduction in the annelid Pristina leidyi.  Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 320B: 471-488. (DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.22523)
  • GoogleScholar profile

Education 
B.S., University of Maryland, College Park, 1991 (General Biology) 
Ph.D., State University of New York-Stony Brook, Department of Ecology and Evolution, 1999. (PhD Advisor: Gregory Wray)
Post-doc, University of California – Berkeley, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, 1999-2002 (Postdoctoral advisor: David A. Weisblat)