ABSTRACT
This book on regenerative engineering presents the insights and perspectives of many scientists with expertise in embryonic and regenerative developmental biology. Collectively, there are several recurring themes that are worthy of note: (1) There are pattern-forming cells and there are pattern-following cells, and you need them both. (2) Cells have a limited repertoire of behaviors, and gene regulation functions to orchestrate those behaviors. (3) The key to regeneration is blastema formation, and the key to blastema formation is dedifferentiation. (4) Regeneration and integration of the regenerated structure into the host tissues are not the same processes. (5) Nerves and the extracellular matrix (ECM) are important. (6) There are not a lot of signals involved; rather, the same, conserved signals and pathways are regulated in different ways. (7) The goal is not to make humans regenerate similar to salamanders or fish but to use these model organisms that can regenerate exceptionally well to identify the pathways that control regeneration. We then can use the ever-expanding toolbox of techniques to manipulate cellular behaviors to engineer regeneration in humans.
