The regeneration of complex body structures after injury or ablation, as championed most impressively by salamanders but barely detectable in humans, remains poorly understood at the molecular level. The aim of the proposed research is to identify the molecular determinants underlying this evolutionary divergence by undertaking a detailed comparative analysis of a regenerative model, i.e. the salamander spinal cord, and a corresponding non-regenerative system, i.e. cultured cell models of mammalian CNS injury repair. The study strategy focuses first on identifying the molecular components and associated cellular functionalities that define key pathways regulating spinal cord regeneration in the axolotl, and comparing them to repair pathways occurring in the corresponding mammalian context. This will be driven through a top-down approach, focusing on miRNAs acting as high level regulators of gene expression modules in both contexts, and characterizing their downstream pathway components. This knowledge will then be used to carry-out detailed studies of endogenous pathway functions in each system, and with the translational goal of harnessing those function to specifically benefit repair processes in the mammalian context.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
