The Forsyth Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology is home to basic, translational and clinical research using integrative biophysical approaches to make fundamental advances in tissue and organ regeneration, cancer, aging and birth defects. The Center's unique focus includes understanding and learning to use the bioelectrical control systems that regulate cell proliferation and differentiation; study of the self-assembly of complex three-dimensional structures, using molecular analysis combined with synthetic modeling systems approaches; and development of technologies to manipulate the behavior of adult somatic cells. In pursuit of these goals, the Center employs animal model species from which we can learn powerful lessons about regeneration.
The current universal popularity of stem cell approaches and the long-term exclusive focus on biochemical factors have led to a failure to develop important alternative approaches for understanding and controlling tissue growth. It has long been known that a number of animal species can regenerate large portions of their bodies as adults. Learning how these processes occur is imperative if we are to induce regeneration of damaged tissues in humans. The Center's efforts focus on understanding how cell behavior is normally orchestrated throughout embryonic development and adulthood, and then learning to control this behavior to regenerate tissues and organs as needed. A crucial component of this control system is bioelectrical. Indeed, proof-of-principle studies have demonstrated that the regenerative potential of adult tissues can be unlocked by manipulating their biophysical properties.
The Center is assembling the facilities and expertise necessary to apply the most powerful tools of molecular genetics and biophysics to the problem of pattern formation in animal model systems. Through highly interdisciplinary, systems-biology approaches, and by using teams that include molecular and cell biologists, mathematicians and bioengineers, we will gain profound insights that can be applied to controlling cell fate and tissue form. Ultimately, these insights will be built from basic advances in developmental biology into clinical applications. Targeted clinical areas include birth defects, cancer biology, neuronal plasticity and regeneration of adult tissues and organs.
Michael Levin Ph.D., Director
Dany Adams, Ph.D.
Nestor Oviedo, Ph.D.
Junji Morokuma, Ph.D.
Kelly Tseng, Ph.D.
Laura Vandenberg, Ph.D.
Doug Blackiston, Ph.D.
Wendy Zhang, Ph.D.
Wendy Beane, Ph.D.
