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Can Aztekin, Max Planck Research Group Leader in Structural Regeneration at the Friedrich-Miescher-Laboratory in Tübingen, is the recipient of the International Society of Regenerative Biology (ISRB) Rising Star Award.
The ISRB award recognises early-career scientists charting new directions in regenerative biology and whose scientific contributions will have a lasting impact on research in the field and who demonstrate exemplary promise for future achievements.
Can Aztekin accepted the award at the 2025 ISRB Conference, on 12 August 2025, in Madison, Wisconsin USA, where he will present his work on limb regeneration across species. His talk is titled ‘What frogs taught us about mammals: the dormant regenerative code and how to activate it.’
Understanding mammalian regenerative potential: The role of oxygen
Aztekin’s research addresses a long-standing question in the field: why can some animals, like frog tadpoles and salamanders, regrow lost limbs, while mammals cannot? His research provided a systematic and quantitative answer using advanced molecular and single-cell technologies. By mapping the cells involved in regeneration, Aztekin and his lab discovered that mammals possess the same cellular ‘blueprint’ for regeneration.
A key breakthrough came when they identified oxygen as a major environmental barrier to this regeneration. Unlike aquatic animals that live in low-oxygen environments, mammals are exposed to much higher oxygen levels on land. They found that mammals are genetically tuned to sense oxygen more acutely than regenerative species, and this heightened sensitivity actively suppresses several molecular processes critical for initiating regeneration. In contrast, regenerative tadpoles and salamanders, mostly living in low-oxygen environments, do not face this constraint. These findings clarify long-standing speculation and reveal an unexpected connection between oxygen sensing and regenerative capacity, bridging fields such as developmental biology, evolution, and environmental physiology.
This discovery opens the door to new therapeutic possibilities. If scientists can learn to modulate oxygen sensing or recreate a more permissive environment, they may one day unlock the hidden regenerative abilities within our own bodies.
“Receiving the Rising Star Award is a tremendous honor and a meaningful affirmation of our lab's interdisciplinary and innovative approach," Aztekin states. "It signals that our strategies, harmonizing methodologies from genomics to stem cell research and bioengineering, are not only being noticed but also valued by the scientific community. This encouragement is incredibly motivating and reinforces that we are on the right path."
As Aztekin looks to the future, he says that he’s most excited about the opportunity to clear up the history of regeneration. Using advances in technology such as high-resolution cellular mapping and advanced gene expression profiling, his lab can now rigorously test long-held hypotheses and build a formal, quantitative, and mechanistic understanding of regeneration across different animals. "We're entering an era where we can revisit old biological questions with new precision and uncover completely new concepts—and that, to me, is the most exciting part," he adds.
Max Planck Research Group Leader
Structural Regeneration
Dr. Can Aztekin
can.aztekin@tuebingen.mpg.de
Press Officer
Press Office
Beatriz Lucas
presse-bio@tuebingen.mpg.de
https://internationalsocietyforregenerativebiology.org/page-18246
https://www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/69701/news_publication_25222916_transferred
https://keeper.mpdl.mpg.de/d/43a702438474424c9044/
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