Andrea E. Wills

Principal Investigator | She/her | aewills at uw.edu

I first became fascinated by regeneration while working as an undergraduate in the Martinez lab at Pomona College, studying the genes that were expressed during head regeneration in Hydra vulgaris. During my graduate and postdoctoral training, I focused on the gene regulatory mechanisms that establish tissue identity in the early embryo, before returning to regeneration in my own lab. Embryogenesis and regeneration are complementary processes; in the first, tissues first acquire their molecular identity, and in the second, they must re-establish it to repair and restore lost structures. The latter process is fundamentally limited in humans, and by studying how those limitations are overcome in other vertebrates, we hope to overcome them in ourselves.

Avery Angell Swearer

Graduate Researcher | she/her | swearera at uw.edu | https://twitter.com/sweareravery

Full or partial paralysis due to spinal cord injury remains one of the most debilitating afflictions in human medicine. In contrast, western clawed frog (Xenopus tropicalis) tadpoles are able to completely regenerate spinal cord form and function within two weeks of tail amputation. Their efficient recovery is reliant on spinal cord neural progenitor cells that activate after injury to successfully replenish neuron populations. Our group has recently identified two transcription factors, Meis1 and Pbx3, that are poised to be key regulators of spinal cord regeneration. So far we know that these two proteins are upregulated during spinal cord regeneration and have hundreds of putative target genes that show changes in gene expression during regeneration. Thus, my research centers on defining the role of Meis1 and Pbx3 in neural regeneration after spinal cord amputation.

Beatrice L. Milnes

Graduate Researcher | she/her | blmilnes at uw.edu

In regenerative competent species, the loss of a major tissue structure prompts robust cell proliferation to drive new growth. My research focuses on identifying the raw materials and metabolic requirements that fuel regeneration. Specifically, I’m interested in the biosynthesis pathways enacted during tadpole tail and limb regrowth. The transcription factors and distinct metabolic profiles responsible for connecting injury to proliferation, differentiation, and tissue remodeling remain unknown. My approach involves comparing tissue capacities during development and at various stages of regenerative competency, to remodel their metabolic landscapes and channel glucose towards biosynthesis. I aim to pinpoint both the shared and context-specific aspects of metabolic reprogramming that contribute to regenerative success.

Gavin Wheeler

Research Scientist/Lab Manager | he/him | gwheeler at uw.edu

A single cell performs a staggering number of activities in parallel. Activities ranging from near instantaneous chemical reactions to long-term and far reaching intracellular signaling. These behaviors, and the many diverse cell types found within organisms, give rise to a challenging question: how can the specific activity of a single cell be monitored and then related to the behavior of an entire organism? Conventional methods for answering this question rely on terminal experiments and destructive processes that try to capture single moments in time.

In my current projects within our group, my focus is on visualizing the dynamic behaviors involved in complex tissue regeneration. I am helping to bring newly emerging technologies for biosensing and live imaging to the Xenopus model organism.

Morgan McCartney

Research Scientist | she/her | mmccart5 at uw.edu

Regenerating tissues have a high demand for cell proliferation, which requires a constant source of nucleotides for DNA replication, RNA synthesis, and cell signaling. However, it remains unclear how this gross demand for nucleotides is fulfilled. Our group has recently found that Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles undergoing tail regeneration increase their cellular glucose uptake and redirect it into the pentose phosphate pathway, which generates precursors for de novo nucleotide synthesis. Inosine-5’-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is the biosynthetic enzyme which catalyzes the rate-limiting step of de novo guanine nucleotide synthesis. Within the cell, IMPDH activity is regulated through its oligomerization and has been shown to polymerize into enzyme filaments when under nucleotide stress in vitro. I am currently collaborating with the Kollman lab (UW Department of Biochemistry) to study the assembly and regulation of IMPDH in vivo during X. tropicalis development and regeneration.

Yelena Hallman

Research Scientist | she/her | hallmany at uw.edu

Regeneration of complex tissues requires a balance of activation, inhibition, and redirection of diverse metabolic processes to generate the raw materials needed for cell proliferation. My research focuses on elucidating the relationship between oxygen consumption and limb regeneration in the regeneratively competent frog, Xenopus tropicalis. Recent work from our lab highlights an intriguing phenomenon in which cellular glucose uptake increases in regenerating tissues. Interestingly, this heightened glucose uptake does not correlate with increased glycolytic activity, which remains unaltered throughout regeneration. Instead, our observations indicate a potential rerouting of glucose away from glycolysis and into the pentose phosphate pathway. Measuring the rate of oxygen consumption in our model organism will help us understand what kinds of metabolic changes occur during regeneration, and how environmental conditions may influence the redirection of metabolites down one pathway versus another during development and regeneration.

Samuel Perkowski

Undergraduate Researcher | he/him | sperko at uw.edu

Regenerating a diverse population of cells with proper organization and function requires the coordination of an immense set of intercellular signals. Many of these signaling pathways, such as Wnt, BMP, and Shh, are the same ones that play a vital role during the different but highly related process of development. My research focuses on the role that one of these signals, Shh, plays during regeneration in Xenopus tropicalis.

Shh is a morphogen that is known to guide the dorso-ventral patterning of the neural tube during development, but an unanswered question is whether it is used to recapitulate this same organization during regeneration. Shh signaling is also known to proceed through multiple downstream pathways, which may play separate roles in the proliferation and patterning of neural progenitor cells in the regenerating spinal cord. Through the use of small molecule inhibitors and various forms of cell type visualization, I hope to be able to answer these questions and provide a clearer picture of how developmental signals like Shh are reused in a regenerative context.

Iba Husain

Undergraduate Reseacher |  | ihusai at uw.edu

Christopher R. Braden

Research Scientist/Bioinformaticist | He/him

Josh Gilmore

Research Scientist/Lab Manager | He/him

Preston Schattinger

Undergraduate Researcher | He/him

Hannah E. Arbach

Graduate Researcher | They/them

Anneke D. Kakebeen

Graduate Researcher | She/her

Madison C. Williams

Research Scientist | She/her

Claire R. Williams

Postdoctoral Fellow | She/her | google scholar page

Madeline (Maddy) Scott

Lab Manager | They/she

Daniel Ong

Undergraduate Researcher | He/him

Jeet H. Patel

Graduate Researcher | He/him

Ashi Jain

Undergraduate Researcher | She/her