Switching mammal regeneration back on

The story so far

1. Jun 27, 2026 Latest

   Epigenetic editing that switches genes on and off without changing the DNA sequence entered human trials for muscular dystrophy.

   Today Got Better

2. Jun 18, 2026

   Researchers showed that the growth factor FGF2 can redirect scar-forming cells toward regeneration, and mice regrew bone, joint and ligament tissue.

   Today Got Better

3. Jun 26, 2025

   Lin and colleagues found that mice fail to regrow an ear because one gene, Aldh1a2, stays switched off after injury, starving the wound of retinoic acid. Turning the gene back on, or simply supplying the acid, restarted ear regeneration, and a rabbit version of the same control switch did the job in mice.

   Science

4. Apr 26, 2023

   Comparing the regenerating spiny mouse with an ordinary lab mouse, Tomasso and colleagues pinned the difference on a single molecular switch called ERK. Turn it off and the spiny mouse scarred; force it on in a scar-prone mouse and its wounds started to regenerate, growing new hair follicles.

   Science Advances

5. Nov 7, 2013

   George Daley's lab switched the embryonic gene Lin28a back on in adult mice and watched them regrow hair, cartilage and bone faster after injury. The trick worked by resetting how cells burn energy, closer to the metabolism of a growing embryo.

   Cell

6. Jul 11, 2013

   Makoto Takeo and Mayumi Ito worked out why a fingertip can regrow but a whole finger cannot. Stem cells under the nail send out a Wnt signal that drives regrowth, and only amputations that spare those cells regenerate. Switching the signal back on restored the response in mice.

   Nature

7. Sep 27, 2012

   Ashley Seifert's team reported that African spiny mice can lose a patch of skin to a predator and grow it back, hair follicles, glands and cartilage included, with barely a scar. It was the clearest sign yet that a mammal can truly regenerate tissue rather than just patch it.

   Nature