Project Grant R35GM161400
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory $422,500 on April 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate molecular mechanisms of limb and tail regeneration in axolotls as a foundation for developing strategies for scarless tissue regeneration in humans. The research examines why axolotls regenerate limbs and tails without scarring through blastema formation, whereas mammals form...
- The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded The Marine Biological Laboratory $431,112 on September 1, 2026, under the Child Health and Human Development Extramular Research program (CFDA 93.865) to investigate the role of neuropeptides in appendage regeneration. The research seeks to understand why salamanders and axolotls regenerate lost limbs, jaws, tails, and other tissues while humans retain only limited regenerative capacity. The work addresses therapeutic...
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded the University of Washington $287,219 on August 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate metabolic reprogramming in vertebrate appendage regeneration. The research examines how animals mobilize biomolecules—nucleotides, proteins, and lipids—to regrow lost appendages, using the frog Xenopus tropicalis as a model organism. The principal investigator's central hypothesis is that...
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded the University of California, Davis $393,008 on March 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to support research on the regulation of cell fate specification during the regeneration of complex sensory organs. The funded research uses the freshwater apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) as a model organism to uncover molecular mechanisms driving...
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Vanderbilt University $435,875 on July 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to support research on epigenetic control of tissue regeneration across species and life stages. The award funds investigation into how gene activity is regulated to enable tissue regeneration in organisms such as planarians, teleost fish, and salamanders that retain regenerative capacity throughout their lives,...
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Louisiana State University $375,000 on April 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to develop next-generation detection strategies for post-translational modifications in proteins. The recipient will engineer families of highly specific post-translational modification-binding domains (reader domains) to enable detection and analysis of modifications including tyrosine phosphorylation and...
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Rutgers, The State University $421,171 on July 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate the genetic origins of vertebrate evolutionary novelties, specifically the fin-to-limb transformation in tetrapods. The Nakamura Lab will conduct three integrated projects to identify the genetic cascades and molecular mechanisms underlying digit evolution and the transition from fish fin...
- The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded University of Massachusetts Boston $515,382 on June 1, 2026, under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) to support research on cellular regulation of pattern in regenerating limb tissue. The research examines how anterior and posterior limb cells direct regeneration of precisely the missing structures in Mexican axolotl limbs, using spatial transcriptomics and in vivo regenerative...
- The National Science Foundation Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences awarded the University of New Mexico $1,132,338 on July 1, 2026, under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to investigate the physiological mechanisms by which African lungfish transform their skin during water-to-land transitions. The research examines how a pore-forming toxin produced by lungfish cells alters skin composition and cellular trajectories during the adaptation from aquatic to terrestrial...
- Wake Forest University received a $390,101 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), effective August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2027. The award funds research to interrogate the molecular mechanisms of limb regeneration in the Mexican axolotl salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum) using a viral molecular toolbox. The primary deliverables include the development...
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Louisiana State University $375,000 on September 4, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to fund a five-year comparative study identifying shared molecular and cellular mechanisms of limb and fin regeneration across regenerative and non-regenerative vertebrate species. The research employs a multiscale comparative approach using the axolotl (Mexican salamander), Senegal bichir, African lungfish, and lizard as model organisms to identify conserved genetic and cellular programs that enable full limb and fin regeneration. The work focuses on two fundamental questions: identifying conserved instructive signals that trigger regeneration in highly regenerative species, and determining how scar-free tissue regeneration is achieved. The study leverages spatial transcriptomics and comparative transcriptomics to map common micro-conserved domains of gene expression and has identified the mTOR pathway as a shared regenerative signal. By identifying a core cellular and genetic toolkit of regeneration, the research aims to inform approaches to restore limb function in mammals, addressing the needs of approximately 2.1 million people living with limb loss in the United States. Work is performed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a period of performance from September 4, 2026, through August 31, 2031.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $375.0k | 9/1/26 |