The brain is essential for everyday life, but in most animalsespecially adult mammalsit has
only a very limited ability to repair itself after injury. Although some new brain cells can form,
most do not survive, and brain damage often leads to lasting loss of function.
The salamander axolotl is a striking exception. After brain injury, it can fully restore lost tissue
by activating stem cells that generate new neurons. Despite this remarkable ability, we still do
not understand how these stem cells recreate the correct variety of neurons, or why regeneration
succeeds in some cases but fails in others.
We focus on the axolotl olfactory bulb, a brain region involved in the sense of smell, and
investigate how its regeneration depends on the presence of the olfactory nerve. Scientists have
known for decades that nerves are required for successful brain regeneration, but the reasons
behind this dependence remain unclear. The axolotl olfactory system allows us to directly study
why regeneration succeeds in some cases but not in others.
Our aim is to understand how stem cells rebuild the olfactory bulb from scratch, how they
produce the correct types of neurons, and which key factors control nerve-dependent
regeneration. By uncovering these mechanisms, we hope to identify general principles that
determine whether brain repair is successful. In the long term, this research may provide
important insights into why brain regeneration is possible in some situations but not in others.