Ai-Sun "Kelly" Tseng (Life Sciences) and members of the Tseng laboratory recently published a research article titled "A Model for Investigating Developmental Eye Repair in Xenopus" in the journal Experimental Eye Research. This study showed the unexpected finding that frog embryos can fully regrow their eyes after injury. The authors also identified a method to control eye regrowth. Further studies of this model can lead to new strategies for eye repair and regeneration.
This study was performed by UNLV students. Ph.D. student Cindy X. Kha is supported by a Top Tier Doctoral Dissertation Grant. For this work, she also won a first-place award for science poster presentation at the recent GPSA research forum. Philip Son (currently attending the UNLV Dental School) was supported in part by a National Science Foundation EPSCoR undergraduate research fellowship and an AANAPISI undergraduate research fellowship .
The Tseng lab seeks to identify the mechanisms that enable animals to regrow organs and tissues with the goal of applying this knowledge toward developing regenerative therapeutics.