Project 176435

Regenerative medicine is the new frontier of biomedical sciences that promises to unlock the secrets of how the body generates and repair itself. The ability to regenerate lost of damaged tissues would greatly benefit people suffering from the loss of tissue function such as organ failure, amputation and burn victims. Fortunately for tissue regeneration research, there is a vertebrate model that can perfectly regenerate its tissues following amputation or injury which provides a unique opportunity to unlock the mechanisms of regeneration. Urodele amphibians (e.g. axolotls) are unique among vertebrates in their ability to regenerate tissues. In order to better understand the signals modulating the process of regeneration in urodeles, we have selected to study signalling molecules that are implicated in cell growth, differentiation and wound healing in other non-regenerating vertebrate models. One such family of signalling molecules are members of the transforming growth factor beta (tgf-b) superfamily. Various members from this family, in particular tgf-b1 and its intracellular signalling machinery (Smad 2/3 & 7 and MAPK), have been shown to modulate cellular growth, differentiation and wound healing, all of which are cellular events observed in urodele regeneration. A better understanding of how these organisms can regenerate their tissues may one day lead to novel therapeutic approaches for treating loss of tissue function and organ failure in humans.