{"id":7925,"date":"2026-06-17T11:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/?p=7925"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:11:28","slug":"targeting-dkk1-promotes-corneal-axonal-regeneration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/2026\/06\/17\/targeting-dkk1-promotes-corneal-axonal-regeneration\/","title":{"rendered":"Targeting DKK1 Promotes Corneal Axonal Regeneration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a first-of-its-kind breakthrough study targeting corneal Schwann cells for drug discovery, the Mohan Lab has identified Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1) as a novel, druggable target for promoting axonal regeneration and restoring corneal sensitivity. Using a broad experimental strategy, the team defined DKK1\u2019s role in corneal injury across two clinically relevant models: surgical lesions in mice that mimic human LASIK procedures and exposure to nitrogen mustard, an analog of the chemical warfare agent sulfur mustard. By developing a potent topical DKK1 therapeutic, they demonstrated the versatility of this Schwann cell\u2013targeted approach for promoting nerve regeneration across both injury models. The study is published in the<span>\u00a0<\/span><em>Journal of Neuroscience Research as an open access article<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/jnr.70142\">https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/jnr.70142<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This work has also been featured in the UConn Today magazine<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/06\/targeting-schwann-cells-a-new-approach-to-repairing-corneal-injury\/\">https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/06\/targeting-schwann-cells-a-new-approach-to-repairing-corneal-injury\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>and featured as a video on LinkedIn<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/?highlightedUpdateUrn=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7472996485966716928&amp;highlightedUpdateType=MENTIONED_YOU_IN_THIS&amp;origin=inapp&amp;showCommentBox=true\">https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/?highlightedUpdateUrn=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7472996485966716928&amp;highlightedUpdateType=MENTIONED_YOU_IN_THIS&amp;origin=inapp&amp;showCommentBox=true<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Mohan lab is supported by grants from the NIH Office of the Director, the National Eye Institute, and the Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation and Solomon Endowed chair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a first-of-its-kind breakthrough study targeting corneal Schwann cells for drug discovery, the Mohan Lab has identified Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1) as a novel, druggable target for promoting axonal regeneration and restoring corneal sensitivity. Using a broad experimental strategy, the team defined DKK1\u2019s role in corneal injury across two clinically relevant models: surgical lesions in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 02:37:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7925"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7927,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7925\/revisions\/7927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}