About the center

The Human Regenerative Map is a research center started 2008 and funded by the Swedish Research Council within their Linné program. The center aims to establish a map of cell turnover in the human body in health and disease.

We have recently devised a novel strategy, by integrating biomedical approaches with recent developments in nuclear physics, which enables establishing the turnover of cells in human tissues. By measuring 14C derived from nuclear bomb tests in DNA, we can retrospectively establish the birth date of cells and directly measure cell turnover and tissue regeneration in humans. We also study cell turnover and cell lineage by phylogenetic fate mapping.

This will give fundamental information on the dynamics of cell replacement in the human body, which will have significant implications for the understanding of many diverse processes, such as for example human brain function and the development of obesity. Moreover, it will provide knowledge necessary for the development of diagnostics and regenerative therapies in for example neurology, psychiatry, cardiology, obesity and diabetes.