Axolotls are aquatic salamanders known not only for their cute faces and living their whole lives underwater, but also for their ability to regenerate lost body parts, including entire limbs, portions of the spinal cord, and even parts of their brain, making them a powerful model for regenerative biology research. In a recent study published in the journal Cell, Duygu Payzin Dogru, who earned her PhD in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard Griffin GSAS in 2022, and her colleagues revealed that before the axolotl even begins rebuilding the missing limb, its whole body shifts into healing mode, which then enables precise and effective regrowth of the lost structure. This discovery challenges the traditional view that regeneration is a strictly local process, providing a new blueprint for how to trigger widespread cellular readiness for healing, crucial for advancing human regenerative medicine and tissue repair.
