A study from Duke’s Regeneration Next initiative has revealed clues about zebrafish spinal cord regeneration.
Researchers in the lab of Kenneth Poss, James B. Duke professor of cell biology and director of Regeneration Next, discovered a protein that promotes spinal cord repair in zebrafish.
“Regenerative medicine is the concept of replacing lost, damaged or diseased tissue with new healthy tissue,” Poss wrote in an email. “Approaches conceivably include the introduction of cells, genes, and/or drug cocktails to restore healthy tissue.”
Poss noted that zebrafish have the ability to form a bridge between two severed ends of a spinal cord, which can be done in as little as two months. In the most recent study, investigators tried to discover the factor that enables this rapid repair.
“By screening in an unbiased way for genes that become active during spinal cord regeneration, we found a molecular factor (called CTGF), previously studied for other functions in tissue, that is required for the bridging process and can even accelerate events if added in excess,” Poss wrote.
The recent identification of the regenerative protein, however, is only a stepping stone in the effort to find viable regeneration methods for human tissue, he explained. More research must be conducted before the CTGF protein in zebrafish can yield clues to regeneration in humans.
Founded in January 2016, Regeneration Next is a collaborative initiative formed by members of several departments who shared an interest in regenerative medicine research. It currently includes more than 50 Duke professors and clinicians.
“It’s a campus-wide initiative,” said Sharlini Sankaran, executive director of Regeneration Next. “It is a collection of like-minded researchers, clinicians and biomedical engineers who are all interested in solving this problem of regenerative biology and regenerative medicine.”
Sankaran explained that while the research of Regeneration Next occurs in each professor’s individual laboratory, the findings are all dedicated to advancing knowledge of regenerative medicine. The community-building aspect of the organization is vital as well, she noted.
“We founded the initiative to bring together the community, to make sure we can have people working together and to establish Duke as a place to come to if you’re serious about this sort of research,” Sankaran said.
She explained that skeletal, muscular and kidney regeneration are just a few areas that Duke investigators are currently studying.
For example, Dr. Benjamin Alman, chair of orthopedic surgery at Duke Medical Center and co-director of Regeneration Next, is focusing on the body’s mechanisms of fracture repair.
Alman explained that although the bones of younger individuals may heal rather quickly, elderly bones can take much longer to become fully repaired. In response to fracture, blood cells produce certain proteins that contribute to accelerated healing, but these chemicals change with age.
“You actually can rejuvenate the pace of fracture repair by putting cells from younger animals in older animals to really make those fractures heal faster,” Alman said.
Even though Regeneration Next is in its beginning phase, researchers expressed confidence in the initiative’s future success.
Sankaran emphasized the necessity of building the program while continuing to pursue a wide range of research. Four postdoctoral fellowships have been awarded thus far, and job postings are open to attract new faculty members specializing in regenerative medicine.
“We would like to be a place that’s very desirable for world-class researchers,” Sankaran said. “We are focused on funding young people and people at the beginning stage of their research careers because that’s an investment that will pay off.”
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