Dr. Bret Pearson is a Senior Scientist in Developmental & Stem Cell Biology at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, where he serves as the Director of Collaborative Specialization in Developmental Biology. Dr. Pearson's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of neural regeneration following acute injury, using freshwater planarians and zebrafish as model organisms. His team investigates how adult stem cells contribute to precise cellular lineages during neural regeneration and how these processes are disrupted in conditions like glioblastoma multiforme, a form of brain cancer. Their goal is to gain insights into the molecular and cellular aspects of neural regeneration at a single-cell level. Dr. Pearson has an extensive academic background, including postdoctoral research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and graduate studies at the University of Oregon. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the field, including the CIHR Early Career Salary Award and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Career Award. Dr. Pearson has published his research findings in reputable journals, further contributing to our understanding of stem cell biology and neural regeneration.