Key points from article :
Researchers have identified a transcription factor, Lef1, that acts like a molecular switch in the skin of baby mice.
It controls the formation of hair follicles and is associated with papillary fibroblasts.
The switch is mostly turned off after skin forms and remains off in adult tissue.
When it was re-activated in specialized cells in adult mice, it enhanced the skins' ability to regenerate wounds with reduced scarring, even growing new hair follicles that could make goose bumps.
Has implications for better skin wound treatment as well as preventing some of the aging process in skin.
The secret to human regeneration might be found by studying our own early development.
"We do generate new tissue, once in our life, as we are growing" - Ryan Driskell
Research by Washington State University published in journal eLife.
