Can Aztekin

Structural Regeneration

Friedrich Miescher Laboratory
IMPRS Faculty

Can Aztekin, Max Planck Group Leader at the FML Tübingen

Vita

PhD at University of Cambridge, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK, 2021
Independent group leader/ELISIR Scholar, EPFL School of Life Sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2021 - 2025
Branco Weiss Fellow, 2022 - current
Max Planck Research Group Leader at the FML February 2025 - current

Research Interest

How do some animals, like frog tadpoles or salamanders, regrow their lost limbs while humans cannot?

We are interested in understanding how cellular behaviors drive limb and tail regeneration, which cell type interactions are critical for these processes, and what goes differently in limb regeneration-incompetent mammals. Through our research, we have used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to map the cellular composition involved in regeneration, revealing the crucial role of specific regenerative epithelial signaling center cell types (Aztekin et al., Science, 2019; Aztekin et al., Development, 2021). Expanding on these findings, we identified similar cell types across different species, including mammals (Zhong et al., Nature Communications, 2023). At the same time, we developed ex vivo, stem cells-based, and organoid models that allow us to examine regeneration and the regenerative cell types in unprecedented detail (Aztekin et al., Development, 2021; Tsissios et al. bioRxiv, 2024; Skoufa et al., Science Advances, 2025).

Figure 1. Confocal image of frog tadpole limb

Figure 1. Confocal image of frog tadpole limb

Leveraging our new models, which offer many new perspectives, in combination with state-of-the-art single-cell -omics and imaging methods, we aim to address fundamental questions that could enable human limb regeneration in the future.

Available PhD Project

Project 1: Quantitative and dynamic analysis of limb regenerative signaling center interactions
Project 2: Evolution of Species-Specific Oxygen Sensing

Selected Reading

G. Tsissios, M. Leleu, K. Hu, A. E. Demirtas, H. Hu, T. Kawanishi, E. Skoufa, A. Valente, A. Herrera, A. Mery, L. Noseda, H. Ochi, S. Sakar, M. Tanaka, F. Zenk, C. Aztekin, Species-specific oxygen sensing governs the initiation of vertebrate limb regeneration. bioRxiv [Preprint] (2024).
E. Skoufa, J. Zhong, K. Hu, O. Kahre, G. Tsissios, L. Carrau, A. Herrera, A. Dominguez Mantes, M. Leleu, A. Castilla-Ibeas, H. Jang, M. Weigert, G. La Manno, M. Lutolf, M. Ros, C. Aztekin, Specialized signaling centers direct cell fate and spatial organization in a mesodermal organoid model. Sci. Adv. 11, eady7682 (2025).
J. Zhong, R. Aires, G. Tsissios, E. Skoufa, K. Brandt, T. Sandoval-Guzmán, C. Aztekin, Multi-species atlas resolves an axolotl limb development and regeneration paradox. Nat. Commun. 14, 6346 (2023).
C. Aztekin, T. W. Hiscock, J. Gurdon, J. Jullien, J. Marioni, B. D. Simons, Secreted inhibitors drive the loss of regeneration competence in Xenopus limbs. Dev. Camb. Engl. 148 (2021).
C. Aztekin, T. W. Hiscock, J. C. Marioni, J. B. Gurdon, B. D. Simons, J. Jullien, Identification of a regeneration-organizing cell in the Xenopus tail. Science 364, 653–658 (2019).