The Niche
ISSCR plenaries: how to repair 1) a salamander leg and 2) a human airway
NOTE: These two write-ups are by Teisha Rowland, a volunteer Niche blogger and student at UC Santa Barbara. Limb regeneration takes nerve Proper limb regeneration in the salamander requires the presence and function of nerves, although it is unclear why this is on a molecular level. Recent evidence implicates a newly discovered protein as having a central role in the innervation of regenerating limbs. At ISSCR in Barcelona, Jeremy Brockes of the University College London reported that in severed salamander limbs the protein n(ewt)AG, or nAG, is key for promoting regeneration. nAG production, in turn, is linked to nerves in