Repairing repair
Exploring the mechanisms and plasticity of tissue repair and regeneration to translate insights from highly regenerative animals to humans.
About The Varholick Lab
The driving force of our lab is to understand how we can optimize the functional recovery of organs and tissues after injury. Severe injuries, diseases, and surgeres can leave organs and tissues with poor functionality due to fibrosis (i.e., scar tissue) and the body's inability to fully regenerate the damaged tissue to its original state. This is especially true for the nervous system, where damage often leads to permanent loss of function.
We study highly regenerative animals, such as spiny mice, neonatal mice, and salamanders, to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow them to fully regenerate their tissues and organs after injury. We take a special interest in peripheral nerves since humans have some ability to regenerate them, but highly regenerative animals do it better. By understanding the mechanisms underlying regeneration, we aim to translate these insights into therapies that can enhance tissue repair and and restore funcationality in humans.
Meet Our Team →
Here a whisker follicle from a Spiny mouse is regenerating under a newly formed skin 10 days after wounding
Our Research Areas
👋 How can we optimize cutaneous innervation?
Although humans can regenerate their peripheral and cutaenous nerves after injury, the quality of regeneration is poor. This leads to pain, numbness, poor motor control, poor organ functioning, etc. Highly regenerative animals, however, have optimal nerve regeneration targetting the affected organ, with good insulation for nerve conduction, and bundled nerves for good signals. Our goal is to translate this optimal nerve regeneration into humans and other mammals to improve behavioral recovery (e.g., sensation) as if the injury or damage never occured.
Learn More →🧠Understanding the behaviors and neuroplasticity of highly regenerative animals
Highly regenerative animals don't just regrow the damaged tissue, they also use it as if it was never damaged. Behavior and neuroplasticity are central to this process of recovery, but little is known. We believe that the brains and behaviors of these animals hold a secret to full recovery that has yet to be discovered, and will fundamentally change our application of regenerative medicine in the clinic.
Learn More →🕔 When are the sensitive periods for tissue regeneration?
It's well established that critical or sensitive periods exist within development, allowing development to continue towards the mean or stall towards an outlier phenotype. We are studying whether this also occurs during regeneration, determining when the system is most plastic during regeneration and how this can be leveraged to optimize healing and recovery.
Learn More →Recent Publications
Spiny mice (Acomys) regenerate wounded whisker pad skin with whisker follicles, muscles, and targeted innervation.
Varholick, J.A., *Kondapaneni, R., Maden, M. (2025). npj Regenerative Medicine, 10:28
This is the first study to demonstrate that spiny mice can regenerate their whisker follicles and the associated structures after removal. Starting a new model system for studying cutaneous nerve regeneration.
PDF, DOI Link
Latest News & Updates
Fall 2025
Apply to become a First-Year Scholar!
We have two spots for First-Year scholars for a project titled, "Uncovering What Regenerates When Skin Nerves Are Injured in Highly Regenerative Animals". If you are a first-year student at KSU and are interested, please apply here! Applications open Friday August 22nd at 5pm and close on Wednesday September 10th at 11:59pm.
Read More →Fall 2025
The Varholick Lab officially opens at Kennesaw State University
Stop by SC 360 and say hello. Hopefully we'll start antibody staining soon, and have animals next semester.
Read More →August 2025
Whisker research presented at ISRB 2025
Prof. Malcolm Maden from the University of Florida presented our research on cutaneous nerve and whisker follicle regeneration at ISRB 2025.
Read More →Get in Touch
We're always open to collaborations, inquiries, and new talent. Reach out to us!
Email Us
Visit Us
Science Building, Room 360
Kennesaw State University
Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Kennesaw, Georgia