PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES OF VERTEBRATE REGENERATION

Our lab investigates how cells communicate and coordinate with each other for a lost body part to regenerate into its original form. We ask this question with a quantitative approach at the boundary of physics and biology, applying experimental, computational, and theoretical methods. Our main model system is the zebrafish scale. We like scales because they are accessible to live imaging, simple enough to be studied quantitatively and have an intriguing regenerative biology. We monitor signals, forces and cell dynamics in adult fish, at subcellular resolution and tissue-wide, using high-sensitivity sensors and reporters. Our research will reveal mechanisms of cell coordination in the morphogenesis of regenerating tissues, that we expect to be generalizable to many other multi-cellular contexts.