ISRB LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Helen Blau, PhD  

Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor

Stanford University, USA

Helen Blau completed her PhD at Harvard studying silk moth eggshell morphogenesis with Fotis Kafatos followed by after a post-doctoral fellowship in the lab of Charles Epstein at the University of California. She then she became faculty at Stanford University. As an independent researcher, with a diverse skill set and broad scientific interest, she astounded the scientific community with the discovery that the mammalian differentiated state is not fixed and irreversible as previously thought. She produced an important body of work that showed the ability of differentiated cells to express genes that they normally would not, and that therefore the differentiated state is subject to continuous regulation.

Dr. Blau has investigated muscle differentiation and muscle stem cells over many years and has identified important niche factors including bioengineered niches and factors such as prostaglandin E2 that can rejuvenate muscle stem cells and that have important therapeutic applications. Helen Blau has always been a great supporter and champion of regenerative biology and the regenerative biology community. This includes her own research into the mechanisms of muscle dedifferentiation. She recognized the value of regenerative organisms very early and has been an active participant in many regeneration meetings.

ISRB RISING STAR AWARD

Daniel Wehner , PhD

Group Leader

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany

Daniel Wehner completed his PhD in Gilbert Weidinger’s lab at Ulm University, Germany, where he pioneered the use of cell-type specific manipulation of signaling pathways in zebrafish fins to show that Wnt signaling orchestrates regeneration. As a postdoc in Catherina Becker’s lab at the University of Edinburgh, he moved to study zebrafish spinal cord regeneration. Embracing the complexity of the extracellular matrix and the experimental difficulties posed by studying it, Daniel found that Wnt signaling instructs fibroblasts to deposit a growth-permissive ECM in the spinal lesion site. In his own lab at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany, he continues to derive deep mechanistic insights into the role of pro- and anti-regenerative ECM factors in CNS regeneration. His lab has for example shown that small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs), which are enriched in mammalian, but not zebrafish CNS lesions, inhibit axon regeneration. By combining molecular biology, genetics and physics he found that SLRPs alter the mechano-structural properties of the injury ECM. Daniel’s science is inspired and innovative; he is a fantastic tool builder and successful mentor.

Junsu Kang, PhD

Associate Professor of Cell and Regenerative Biology 

University of Wisconsin, USA

Dr. Kang received his PhD from Seoul National University for work with Dr. Junho Lee studying developmental genetics in C. elegans. As a postdoc with Ken Poss at Duke University, he initiated studies using zebrafish to understand the genetic basis of regenerative capacity. Among other findings, Dr. Kang led a foundational study describing dedicated regulatory elements called tissue regeneration enhancers (TREEs) that underlie programs of tissue regeneration. This work has inspired many labs since to investigate TREEs in diverse species, tissues, and injury contexts. Upon starting his own lab at University of Wisconsin in 2017, his group has begun to dissect the mechanistic features of TREEs in multiple papers, while also using forward genetics to discover a requirement for the activity of a specific voltage-gated sodium channel in the regeneration of innervated bony fin rays. Dr. Kang is a passionate scientist and mentor, and he has been very actively involved at his university and in the regenerative biology community. His innovative work has revealed broad concepts for the field of tissue regeneration.