# Cell signaling in regeneration and tissue scaling

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $291,236

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Organisms with regenerative abilities have been informative models for uncovering natural mechanisms by
which tissue damage activates stem or progenitor cells for injury repair. The timing, location, and extent of
injuries are not predetermined, requiring the existence of mechanisms that instruct tissue restoration activities
that perfectly counter the effects of damage. A key question to understand this process is how regenerative
tissue redefines territories removed by injury, and it is hypothesized this is related to as-yet undiscovered
systems that robustly regulate tissue proportionality across large length scales. To begin to address this
question, it is essential to define the cell signaling systems that underlie regional identity and proportional
growth. While regenerative tissues have been extensively probed for the roles of injury-induced signals and the
involvement of stem or progenitor cells, much less is known about the molecular and developmental processes
that enable the restoration of form after injury and its maintenance through adult growth. In the aims of this
grant, this deficit is addressed by leveraging expertise in the planarian system, which uniquely allows for the
study of signaling that regulates re-scaling of tissues through regeneration, to elucidate the regulatory and
developmental mechanism that generates and restores tissue proportionality after injury. Uncovering
fundamental mechanisms used by organisms to control tissue proportionality will provide foundational insights
into understanding diseases of growth misregulation, the nature of proportional growth, and the control of stem
cells for tissue regeneration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10355448
- **Project number:** 5R01GM129339-04
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Christian Petersen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $291,236
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10355448

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10355448, Cell signaling in regeneration and tissue scaling (5R01GM129339-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10355448. Licensed CC0.

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