This experiment examined whether the transfer of DNA or RNA from conditioned planaria could make the recipients more susceptible to similar conditioning. It has been shown in prior experiments that cephalization is not necessary for memory retention in planaria, so there must be another, non-neural mechanism for memory. Thus, changes in DNA or RNA may be responsible for memory retention, and introducing these changes to naive planaria could transfer the "memory" of the conditioned donor. This study included 3 groups of 11 planaria: the control group, the DNA receival group, and the RNA receival group. After the control group was conditioned, each planarian’s RNA and DNA were extracted and given to its genetically identical counterparts in the DNA and RNA receival groups. The number of trials it took to condition the planaria in each group was measured and compared to see if the transfer of RNA or DNA made the recipients more easily conditionable than the control donor group. The results show that the transfer of RNA and DNA made insignificant changes to the conditionability of recipients. However, further research may be able to identify the location of memory bearing molecules, which, if applied to experiments similar to this one, would ensure that the planaria received a high enough concentration of genetic material for any changes present to make a significant effect.

To engineer transplants, donor tissues are decellularized to create acellular scaffolds for the patients’ own cells to be seeded into. There is a need for alternative donor sources because the demand for tissue transplants exceeds the availability of human donors. Plants may offer a solution because of their accessibility, cellulose base, biocompatibility, natural vascularization, and variety of structures and properties available. In this paper, decellularization processes and procedures for plants are presented; and the decellularization of onion epithelial skins was performed using the detergent and detergent-free procedures modified to use at-home kitchen facilities because of school lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of decellularization were histologically analyzed using methylene blue, iodine, and pen ink. Promising results of cells with some debris, a mostly intact extracellular matrix (ECM), and an absence of nuclei, were obtained, which speak to the accessibility of plant scaffolds as a potential donor source.