MBL Falmouth Forum: “Regeneration of Complex Tissues: Axolotls Lead the Way, Can We Follow?” Karen Echeverri

Throughout human life, many cells such as hair follicles and certain tissues such as liver can be continuously replaced to maintain tissue integrity in response to normal, daily wear and tear. While humans do exhibit some very limited regenerative capacity, other animals exhibit sometimes astonishing regenerative ability. Salamanders show the highest diversity in being able to regenerate limbs, tail, heart, eyes, and jaw, and in addition can repair lesions in the brain and heal all wounds without forming scar tissue. Karen Echeverri’s research group is working on elucidating how the axolotl can regenerate multiple body parts including limbs and the spinal cord without forming any scar tissue. The MBL has a long history of research in the field of regeneration. This talk will cover the history of discoveries at the MBL and the current ongoing research on regeneration at the MBL and how this may inform future approaches to regenerative medicine.

Karen Echeverri is a developmental cell biologist and an Associate Scientist at the Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Prior to moving to the MBL in 2018 she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Genetics and Developmental Biology and a member of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota. She trained at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics with Elly Tanaka and Andrew Oates. She received the Otto Hahn award for her Ph.D. work from Max Planck Society and was later awarded the Santa Cruz Developmental Biology Young Investigator Award. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of the remarkable ability of many species to functionally regenerate lost tissue.