Faculty Appointments
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Education
Ph.D., Science, University of Geneva, Geneva, SwitzerlandM.S., Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Bari, Bari, ItalyB.S., Biology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
Office Address
2220 Pierce Avenue
459B PRB
Nashville, TN 37209
459B PRB
Nashville, TN 37209
Research Description
Our research is dedicated to discovering mechanisms that enable spinal cord regeneration, with the ultimate goal of restoring function after spinal cord injury and reversing paralysis.
In adult mammals, spinal cord injury leads to permanent loss of mobility and sensation. In contrast, zebrafish regenerate their spinal cord and recover function after injury. This remarkable regenerative capacity depends on robust neurogenesis, the formation of a tissue bridge composed of glial cells and regenerating axons that reconnect the severed spinal cord, and the re-establishment of functional neural circuits. Neonatal mice also exhibit substantial axon regeneration after spinal cord injury, and recent studies suggest that they share key regenerative mechanisms with zebrafish.
We employ cutting-edge genetics, transcriptomics, in vivo imaging, molecular and cellular biology, and behavioral approaches in zebrafish and mice to address the following questions:
- What factors enable innate spinal cord regeneration, and how are they regulated?
- Are pro-regenerative mechanisms conserved between zebrafish and neonatal mice?
- Can these innate regenerative programs be reactivated in adult mammals to promote axon regeneration, neural circuit repair, and functional recovery?
We believe that uncovering the fundamental mechanisms of innate regeneration in zebrafish and neonatal mice will reveal molecular, cellular, and bioengineering strategies to restore neural connectivity and function after spinal cord injury in adult mammals and, ultimately, in humans.
In adult mammals, spinal cord injury leads to permanent loss of mobility and sensation. In contrast, zebrafish regenerate their spinal cord and recover function after injury. This remarkable regenerative capacity depends on robust neurogenesis, the formation of a tissue bridge composed of glial cells and regenerating axons that reconnect the severed spinal cord, and the re-establishment of functional neural circuits. Neonatal mice also exhibit substantial axon regeneration after spinal cord injury, and recent studies suggest that they share key regenerative mechanisms with zebrafish.
We employ cutting-edge genetics, transcriptomics, in vivo imaging, molecular and cellular biology, and behavioral approaches in zebrafish and mice to address the following questions:
- What factors enable innate spinal cord regeneration, and how are they regulated?
- Are pro-regenerative mechanisms conserved between zebrafish and neonatal mice?
- Can these innate regenerative programs be reactivated in adult mammals to promote axon regeneration, neural circuit repair, and functional recovery?
We believe that uncovering the fundamental mechanisms of innate regeneration in zebrafish and neonatal mice will reveal molecular, cellular, and bioengineering strategies to restore neural connectivity and function after spinal cord injury in adult mammals and, ultimately, in humans.
Research Keywords
regenerative medicine, spinal cord, zebrafish, neurogenesis, epigenetic, chromatin, enhancers, axon growth, astrocytes, glia, paralysis, injury, scar, fibrosis, neuroscience, gene therapy
Publications
Wolfson DW, Hull JA, Li Y, Gonzalez TJ, Jayaram MD, Devlin GW, Cigliola V, Oonk KA, Rosales A, Bursac N, Asokan A, Poss KD. Spatial and longitudinal tracking of enhancer-AAV vectors that target transgene expression to injured mouse myocardium. Elife. 2025 Sep 9/12/2025; 14: PMID: 40938325, PMCID: PMC12431772, PII: 107148, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.107148, ISSN: 2050-084X.
Cellini BR, Edachola SV, Faw TD, Cigliola V. Blueprints for healing: central nervous system regeneration in zebrafish and neonatal mice. BMC Biol. 2025 Apr 4/30/2025; 23(1): 115. PMID: 40307837, PMCID: PMC12044871, PII: 10.1186/s12915-025-02203-0, DOI: 10.1186/s12915-025-02203-0, ISSN: 1741-7007.
Becker CJ, Cigliola V, Gillotay P, Rich A, De Simone A, Han Y, Di Talia S, Poss KD. In toto imaging of glial JNK signaling during larval zebrafish spinal cord regeneration. Development [print-electronic]. 2023 Dec 12/15/2023; 150(24): PMID: 37997694, PMCID: PMC10753585, PII: 336557, DOI: 10.1242/dev.202076, ISSN: 1477-9129.
Cigliola V, Shoffner A, Lee N, Ou J, Gonzalez TJ, Hoque J, Becker CJ, Han Y, Shen G, Faw TD, Abd-El-Barr MM, Varghese S, Asokan A, Poss KD. Spinal cord repair is modulated by the neurogenic factor Hb-egf under direction of a regeneration-associated enhancer. Nat Commun. 2023 Aug 8/11/2023; 14(1): 4857. PMID: 37567873, PMCID: PMC10421883, PII: 10.1038/s41467-023-40486-5, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40486-5, ISSN: 2041-1723.
Yan R, Cigliola V, Oonk KA, Petrover Z, DeLuca S, Wolfson DW, Vekstein A, Mendiola MA, Devlin G, Bishawi M, Gemberling MP, Sinha T, Sargent MA, York AJ, Shakked A, DeBenedittis P, Wendell DC, Ou J, Kang J, Goldman JA, Baht GS, Karra R, Williams AR, Bowles DE, Asokan A, Tzahor E, Gersbach CA, Molkentin JD, Bursac N, Black BL, Poss KD. An enhancer-based gene-therapy strategy for spatiotemporal control of cargoes during tissue repair. Cell Stem Cell [print-electronic]. 2023 Jan 1/5/2023; 30(1): 96-111.e6-111.e6. PMID: 36516837, PMCID: PMC9830588, PII: S1934-5909(22)00459-3, DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2022.11.012, ISSN: 1875-9777.
Oropeza D, Cigliola V, Romero A, Chera S, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Herrera PL. Stage-specific transcriptomic changes in pancreatic a-cells after massive ß-cell loss. BMC Genomics. 2021 Aug 8/2/2021; 22(1): 585. PMID: 34340653, PMCID: PMC8330016, PII: 10.1186/s12864-021-07812-x, DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07812-x, ISSN: 1471-2164.
Gemberling MP, Siklenka K, Rodriguez E, Tonn-Eisinger KR, Barrera A, Liu F, Kantor A, Li L, Cigliola V, Hazlett MF, Williams CA, Bartelt LC, Madigan VJ, Bodle JC, Daniels H, Rouse DC, Hilton IB, Asokan A, Ciofani M, Poss KD, Reddy TE, West AE, Gersbach CA. Transgenic mice for in vivo epigenome editing with CRISPR-based systems. Nat Methods [print-electronic]. 2021 Aug; 18(8): 965-74. PMID: 34341582, PMCID: PMC8349887, PII: 10.1038/s41592-021-01207-2, DOI: 10.1038/s41592-021-01207-2, ISSN: 1548-7105.
Perez-Frances M, van Gurp L, Abate MV, Cigliola V, Furuyama K, Bru-Tari E, Oropeza D, Carreaux T, Fujitani Y, Thorel F, Herrera PL. Pancreatic Ppy-expressing ¿-cells display mixed phenotypic traits and the adaptive plasticity to engage insulin production. Nat Commun. 2021 Jul 7/22/2021; 12(1): 4458. PMID: 34294685, PMCID: PMC8298494, PII: 10.1038/s41467-021-24788-0, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24788-0, ISSN: 2041-1723.
Shoffner A, Cigliola V, Lee N, Ou J, Poss KD. Tp53 Suppression Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation during Zebrafish Heart Regeneration. Cell Rep. 2020 Sep 9/1/2020; 32(9): 108089. PMID: 32877671, PMCID: PMC7494019, PII: S2211-1247(20)31078-0, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108089, ISSN: 2211-1247.
Thompson JD, Ou J, Lee N, Shin K, Cigliola V, Song L, Crawford GE, Kang J, Poss KD. Identification and requirements of enhancers that direct gene expression during zebrafish fin regeneration. Development. 2020 Jul 7/30/2020; 147(14): PMID: 32665240, PMCID: PMC7406312, PII: dev.191262, DOI: 10.1242/dev.191262, ISSN: 1477-9129.
Cigliola V, Becker CJ, Poss KD. Building bridges, not walls: spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish. Dis Model Mech. 2020 May 5/27/2020; 13(5): PMID: 32461216, PMCID: PMC7272344, PII: 13/5/dmm044131, DOI: 10.1242/dmm.044131, ISSN: 1754-8411.
Cigliola V, Ghila L, Chera S, Herrera PL. Tissue repair brakes: A common paradigm in the biology of regeneration. Stem Cells [print-electronic]. 2020 Mar; 38(3): 330-9. PMID: 31722129, DOI: 10.1002/stem.3118, ISSN: 1549-4918.
Han Y, Chen A, Umansky KB, Oonk KA, Choi WY, Dickson AL, Ou J, Cigliola V, Yifa O, Cao J, Tornini VA, Cox BD, Tzahor E, Poss KD. Vitamin D Stimulates Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Controls Organ Size and Regeneration in Zebrafish. Dev Cell [print-electronic]. 2019 Mar 3/25/2019; 48(6): 853-863.e5-863.e5. PMID: 30713073, PMCID: PMC6435404, PII: S1534-5807(19)30001-2, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.01.001, ISSN: 1878-1551.
Cigliola V, Ghila L, Thorel F, van Gurp L, Baronnier D, Oropeza D, Gupta S, Miyatsuka T, Kaneto H, Magnuson MA, Osipovich AB, Sander M, Wright CEV, Thomas MK, Furuyama K, Chera S, Herrera PL. Pancreatic islet-autonomous insulin and smoothened-mediated signalling modulate identity changes of glucagon+ a-cells. Nat Cell Biol [print-electronic]. 2018 Nov; 20(11): 1267-77. PMID: 30361701, PMCID: PMC6215453, PII: 10.1038/s41556-018-0216-y, DOI: 10.1038/s41556-018-0216-y, ISSN: 1476-4679.
Berchtold LA, Miani M, Diep TA, Madsen AN, Cigliola V, Colli M, Krivokapic JM, Pociot F, Eizirik DL, Meda P, Holst B, Billestrup N, Størling J. Pannexin-2-deficiency sensitizes pancreatic ß-cells to cytokine-induced apoptosis in vitro and impairs glucose tolerance in vivo. Mol Cell Endocrinol [print-electronic]. 2017 Jun 6/15/2017; 448: 108-21. PMID: 28390953, PII: S0303-7207(17)30214-9, DOI: 10.1016/j.mce.2017.04.001, ISSN: 1872-8057.
Cigliola V, Thorel F, Chera S, Herrera PL. Stress-induced adaptive islet cell identity changes. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2016 Sep; 18 Suppl 1(Suppl 1): 87-96. PMID: 27615136, PMCID: PMC5021189, DOI: 10.1111/dom.12726, ISSN: 1463-1326.
Cigliola V, Populaire C, Pierri CL, Deutsch S, Haefliger JA, Fadista J, Lyssenko V, Groop L, Rueedi R, Thorel F, Herrera PL, Meda P. A Variant of GJD2, Encoding for Connexin 36, Alters the Function of Insulin Producing ß-Cells. PLoS One. 2016; 11(3): e0150880. PMID: 26959991, PMCID: PMC4784816, PII: PONE-D-15-50500, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150880, ISSN: 1932-6203.
Cigliola V, Allagnat F, Berchtold LA, Lamprianou S, Haefliger JA, Meda P. Role of Connexins and Pannexins in the Pancreas. Pancreas. 2015 Nov; 44(8): 1234-44. PMID: 26465951, PII: 00006676-201511000-00010, DOI: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000000378, ISSN: 1536-4828.
Chera S, Baronnier D, Ghila L, Cigliola V, Jensen JN, Gu G, Furuyama K, Thorel F, Gribble FM, Reimann F, Herrera PL. Diabetes recovery by age-dependent conversion of pancreatic d-cells into insulin producers. Nature [print-electronic]. 2014 Oct 10/23/2014; 514(7523): 503-7. PMID: 25141178, PMCID: PMC4209186, PII: nature13633, DOI: 10.1038/nature13633, ISSN: 1476-4687.
Cigliola V, Chellakudam V, Arabieter W, Meda P. Connexins and ß-cell functions. Diabetes Res Clin Pract [print-electronic]. 2013 Mar; 99(3): 250-9. PMID: 23176806, PII: S0168-8227(12)00383-X, DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2012.10.016, ISSN: 1872-8227.
Potolicchio I, Cigliola V, Velazquez-Garcia S, Klee P, Valjevac A, Kapic D, Cosovic E, Lepara O, Hadzovic-Dzuvo A, Mornjacovic Z, Meda P. Connexin-dependent signaling in neuro-hormonal systems. Biochim Biophys Acta [print-electronic]. 2012 Aug; 1818(8): 1919-36. PMID: 22001400, PII: S0005-2736(11)00328-2, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2011.09.022, ISSN: 0006-3002.
Nlend RN, Aït-Lounis A, Allagnat F, Cigliola V, Charollais A, Reith W, Haefliger JA, Meda P. Cx36 is a target of Beta2/NeuroD1, which associates with prenatal differentiation of insulin-producing ß cells. J Membr Biol [print-electronic]. 2012 Jun; 245(5-6): 263-73. PMID: 22729650, DOI: 10.1007/s00232-012-9447-1, ISSN: 1432-1424.
Cellini BR, Edachola SV, Faw TD, Cigliola V. Blueprints for healing: central nervous system regeneration in zebrafish and neonatal mice. BMC Biol. 2025 Apr 4/30/2025; 23(1): 115. PMID: 40307837, PMCID: PMC12044871, PII: 10.1186/s12915-025-02203-0, DOI: 10.1186/s12915-025-02203-0, ISSN: 1741-7007.
Becker CJ, Cigliola V, Gillotay P, Rich A, De Simone A, Han Y, Di Talia S, Poss KD. In toto imaging of glial JNK signaling during larval zebrafish spinal cord regeneration. Development [print-electronic]. 2023 Dec 12/15/2023; 150(24): PMID: 37997694, PMCID: PMC10753585, PII: 336557, DOI: 10.1242/dev.202076, ISSN: 1477-9129.
Cigliola V, Shoffner A, Lee N, Ou J, Gonzalez TJ, Hoque J, Becker CJ, Han Y, Shen G, Faw TD, Abd-El-Barr MM, Varghese S, Asokan A, Poss KD. Spinal cord repair is modulated by the neurogenic factor Hb-egf under direction of a regeneration-associated enhancer. Nat Commun. 2023 Aug 8/11/2023; 14(1): 4857. PMID: 37567873, PMCID: PMC10421883, PII: 10.1038/s41467-023-40486-5, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40486-5, ISSN: 2041-1723.
Yan R, Cigliola V, Oonk KA, Petrover Z, DeLuca S, Wolfson DW, Vekstein A, Mendiola MA, Devlin G, Bishawi M, Gemberling MP, Sinha T, Sargent MA, York AJ, Shakked A, DeBenedittis P, Wendell DC, Ou J, Kang J, Goldman JA, Baht GS, Karra R, Williams AR, Bowles DE, Asokan A, Tzahor E, Gersbach CA, Molkentin JD, Bursac N, Black BL, Poss KD. An enhancer-based gene-therapy strategy for spatiotemporal control of cargoes during tissue repair. Cell Stem Cell [print-electronic]. 2023 Jan 1/5/2023; 30(1): 96-111.e6-111.e6. PMID: 36516837, PMCID: PMC9830588, PII: S1934-5909(22)00459-3, DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2022.11.012, ISSN: 1875-9777.
Oropeza D, Cigliola V, Romero A, Chera S, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Herrera PL. Stage-specific transcriptomic changes in pancreatic a-cells after massive ß-cell loss. BMC Genomics. 2021 Aug 8/2/2021; 22(1): 585. PMID: 34340653, PMCID: PMC8330016, PII: 10.1186/s12864-021-07812-x, DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07812-x, ISSN: 1471-2164.
Gemberling MP, Siklenka K, Rodriguez E, Tonn-Eisinger KR, Barrera A, Liu F, Kantor A, Li L, Cigliola V, Hazlett MF, Williams CA, Bartelt LC, Madigan VJ, Bodle JC, Daniels H, Rouse DC, Hilton IB, Asokan A, Ciofani M, Poss KD, Reddy TE, West AE, Gersbach CA. Transgenic mice for in vivo epigenome editing with CRISPR-based systems. Nat Methods [print-electronic]. 2021 Aug; 18(8): 965-74. PMID: 34341582, PMCID: PMC8349887, PII: 10.1038/s41592-021-01207-2, DOI: 10.1038/s41592-021-01207-2, ISSN: 1548-7105.
Perez-Frances M, van Gurp L, Abate MV, Cigliola V, Furuyama K, Bru-Tari E, Oropeza D, Carreaux T, Fujitani Y, Thorel F, Herrera PL. Pancreatic Ppy-expressing ¿-cells display mixed phenotypic traits and the adaptive plasticity to engage insulin production. Nat Commun. 2021 Jul 7/22/2021; 12(1): 4458. PMID: 34294685, PMCID: PMC8298494, PII: 10.1038/s41467-021-24788-0, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24788-0, ISSN: 2041-1723.
Shoffner A, Cigliola V, Lee N, Ou J, Poss KD. Tp53 Suppression Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation during Zebrafish Heart Regeneration. Cell Rep. 2020 Sep 9/1/2020; 32(9): 108089. PMID: 32877671, PMCID: PMC7494019, PII: S2211-1247(20)31078-0, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108089, ISSN: 2211-1247.
Thompson JD, Ou J, Lee N, Shin K, Cigliola V, Song L, Crawford GE, Kang J, Poss KD. Identification and requirements of enhancers that direct gene expression during zebrafish fin regeneration. Development. 2020 Jul 7/30/2020; 147(14): PMID: 32665240, PMCID: PMC7406312, PII: dev.191262, DOI: 10.1242/dev.191262, ISSN: 1477-9129.
Cigliola V, Becker CJ, Poss KD. Building bridges, not walls: spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish. Dis Model Mech. 2020 May 5/27/2020; 13(5): PMID: 32461216, PMCID: PMC7272344, PII: 13/5/dmm044131, DOI: 10.1242/dmm.044131, ISSN: 1754-8411.
Cigliola V, Ghila L, Chera S, Herrera PL. Tissue repair brakes: A common paradigm in the biology of regeneration. Stem Cells [print-electronic]. 2020 Mar; 38(3): 330-9. PMID: 31722129, DOI: 10.1002/stem.3118, ISSN: 1549-4918.
Han Y, Chen A, Umansky KB, Oonk KA, Choi WY, Dickson AL, Ou J, Cigliola V, Yifa O, Cao J, Tornini VA, Cox BD, Tzahor E, Poss KD. Vitamin D Stimulates Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Controls Organ Size and Regeneration in Zebrafish. Dev Cell [print-electronic]. 2019 Mar 3/25/2019; 48(6): 853-863.e5-863.e5. PMID: 30713073, PMCID: PMC6435404, PII: S1534-5807(19)30001-2, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.01.001, ISSN: 1878-1551.
Cigliola V, Ghila L, Thorel F, van Gurp L, Baronnier D, Oropeza D, Gupta S, Miyatsuka T, Kaneto H, Magnuson MA, Osipovich AB, Sander M, Wright CEV, Thomas MK, Furuyama K, Chera S, Herrera PL. Pancreatic islet-autonomous insulin and smoothened-mediated signalling modulate identity changes of glucagon+ a-cells. Nat Cell Biol [print-electronic]. 2018 Nov; 20(11): 1267-77. PMID: 30361701, PMCID: PMC6215453, PII: 10.1038/s41556-018-0216-y, DOI: 10.1038/s41556-018-0216-y, ISSN: 1476-4679.
Berchtold LA, Miani M, Diep TA, Madsen AN, Cigliola V, Colli M, Krivokapic JM, Pociot F, Eizirik DL, Meda P, Holst B, Billestrup N, Størling J. Pannexin-2-deficiency sensitizes pancreatic ß-cells to cytokine-induced apoptosis in vitro and impairs glucose tolerance in vivo. Mol Cell Endocrinol [print-electronic]. 2017 Jun 6/15/2017; 448: 108-21. PMID: 28390953, PII: S0303-7207(17)30214-9, DOI: 10.1016/j.mce.2017.04.001, ISSN: 1872-8057.
Cigliola V, Thorel F, Chera S, Herrera PL. Stress-induced adaptive islet cell identity changes. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2016 Sep; 18 Suppl 1(Suppl 1): 87-96. PMID: 27615136, PMCID: PMC5021189, DOI: 10.1111/dom.12726, ISSN: 1463-1326.
Cigliola V, Populaire C, Pierri CL, Deutsch S, Haefliger JA, Fadista J, Lyssenko V, Groop L, Rueedi R, Thorel F, Herrera PL, Meda P. A Variant of GJD2, Encoding for Connexin 36, Alters the Function of Insulin Producing ß-Cells. PLoS One. 2016; 11(3): e0150880. PMID: 26959991, PMCID: PMC4784816, PII: PONE-D-15-50500, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150880, ISSN: 1932-6203.
Cigliola V, Allagnat F, Berchtold LA, Lamprianou S, Haefliger JA, Meda P. Role of Connexins and Pannexins in the Pancreas. Pancreas. 2015 Nov; 44(8): 1234-44. PMID: 26465951, PII: 00006676-201511000-00010, DOI: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000000378, ISSN: 1536-4828.
Chera S, Baronnier D, Ghila L, Cigliola V, Jensen JN, Gu G, Furuyama K, Thorel F, Gribble FM, Reimann F, Herrera PL. Diabetes recovery by age-dependent conversion of pancreatic d-cells into insulin producers. Nature [print-electronic]. 2014 Oct 10/23/2014; 514(7523): 503-7. PMID: 25141178, PMCID: PMC4209186, PII: nature13633, DOI: 10.1038/nature13633, ISSN: 1476-4687.
Cigliola V, Chellakudam V, Arabieter W, Meda P. Connexins and ß-cell functions. Diabetes Res Clin Pract [print-electronic]. 2013 Mar; 99(3): 250-9. PMID: 23176806, PII: S0168-8227(12)00383-X, DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2012.10.016, ISSN: 1872-8227.
Potolicchio I, Cigliola V, Velazquez-Garcia S, Klee P, Valjevac A, Kapic D, Cosovic E, Lepara O, Hadzovic-Dzuvo A, Mornjacovic Z, Meda P. Connexin-dependent signaling in neuro-hormonal systems. Biochim Biophys Acta [print-electronic]. 2012 Aug; 1818(8): 1919-36. PMID: 22001400, PII: S0005-2736(11)00328-2, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2011.09.022, ISSN: 0006-3002.
Nlend RN, Aït-Lounis A, Allagnat F, Cigliola V, Charollais A, Reith W, Haefliger JA, Meda P. Cx36 is a target of Beta2/NeuroD1, which associates with prenatal differentiation of insulin-producing ß cells. J Membr Biol [print-electronic]. 2012 Jun; 245(5-6): 263-73. PMID: 22729650, DOI: 10.1007/s00232-012-9447-1, ISSN: 1432-1424.