Limb regeneration remains a longstanding goal of regenerative medicine.  We study how limbs can be naturally regenerated in axolotl, a type of salamander.  Our research aims to understand the molecular, genetic, and cellular details of how limbs are regenerated so that these insights can later be applied to therapeutic approaches in mammals.

Our laboratory has developed powerful tools to investigate the molecular biology of how axolotls regenerate limbs.  We use retroviral infections, transgenesis, and knock-down and genome editing approaches to analyze the function of genes implicated in our sequencing projects.  We are also developing methods of forward screening in the axolotl system to identify potentially crucical factors in this process in a more unbiased manner.

Our key focus area is the molecular mechanisms at work in the axolotl blastema:  a collection of dedifferentiated cells and stem cells derived from stump tissues that orchestrate limb regeneration. Mammals do not respond to most amputations by creating blastemas, and this difference may underlie their inability to regenerate.

Our goal is to reveal the basic biology at work in blastemas so that we can produce a framework for determining the role of these factors in mammals.

We are also interested in defining the role of nerves in injury responses in highly-regenerative animals, such as axolotls.  We want to know how these responses, both systemic and localized, relate to those in organisms with more limited regenerative prowesss, such as humans.  In parallel, we are exploring peripheral nerve regeneration in axolotls to enable cross-species comparisons and development of biological approaches toward improving PNS repair.