More Attention Given to the Axolotl
From ScienceDaily: "a multi-institutional team of researchers [has] begun creating genomic tools necessary to compare the extraordinary regenerative capacity of the Mexican axolotl salamander with established mouse models of human disease and injury. Researchers want to find ways to tap unused human capacities to treat spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury and other neural conditions ... The axolotl is the champion of vertebrate regeneration, with the ability to replace whole limbs and even parts of its central nervous system. These salamanders use many of the same body systems and genes that we do, but they have superior ability to regenerate after major injuries. We think that studying them will tell us a lot about a patient's natural regenerative capacities after spinal cord injury and nerve cell damage ... Only now have new genetic, molecular and cellular technologies as well as scientific knowledge of the salamander, mouse and human genomes and 'regeneromes' risen to a level where scientists can compare systemwide responses to injury. ... I am extremely hopeful with the discoveries being made in comparative regenerative biology that the questions surrounding cell and tissue regeneration in the human following injury or disease are going to be answered."
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208214636.htm