Window of Regeneration

Mice can regenerate limbs... well, as embryos half-way through their 20-day gestation they can reform the recently acquired limb buds if they're amputated. But only two days later as day-12 embryos the ability is lost. Using comparative transcriptomics (studying the active genes in cell populations) and cell lineage tracing in developing mice embryos, researchers have found a population of neural crest (a specific region early in embryo formation)–derived cells that bear the molecular markers Wnt1 and Foxd3 which are specifically associated with the transient regeneration phase in the embryo. These findings bring insights for repairing tissue after injury or degeneration

Read the published research article here

Written by Lindsey Goff

Lindsey Goff

Editor-in-Chief

Formerly immunologist for Cancer Research UK, Lindsey has since moved into the field of scientific publishing. She looks after all BPoD editorial matters.

• Image from work by Béryl Laplace-Builhé, Gautier Tejedor and Jholy De La Cruz, and colleagues
• Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapies, University of Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier, France
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), December 2025