Lecture: Lessons from the Liver: Uncovering Novel Approaches for Regenerative Medicine

The inability of organs to renew themselves and the loss of differentiated cells underlies numerous diseases across organ systems, including heart attack, stroke, and neurodegeneration. However, the liver, in contrast to most organs, has a remarkable ability to regenerate itself after various forms of injury. While the liver’s regenerative ability has been appreciated for decades, it is still unclear why the liver can do this while other organs cannot. Kristin Knouse, a fellow at Whitehead Institute, will be discussing the work in her laboratory aimed at understanding what endows the liver with this unique regenerative ability and the ultimate goal of one day conferring this capacity to other organs in the setting of injury or disease.

This talk is part of Whitehead Institute’s Spring into Science series–evening lectures for the Cambridge community featuring the latest in biomedical research.

Registration is required. Learn more or register at http://springevents.wi.mit.edu/.