Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute

Every time scientists sequence a genome or measure proteins in a diseased cell, they generate a list that can run to tens of thousands of entries. The hard part has always been working out which entries actually matter.
Researchers at ARMI have built a tool called ExIR that does exactly that. Unlike existing approaches, ExIR does not need to consult any database of prior knowledge to get there. It reads the data in front of it and identifies the molecules most likely to be driving a disease, flagging it, or connecting the two. Tested across more than a dozen published datasets covering multiple cancers and neurological conditions, it outperformed every comparable tool.
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Last chance to vote in the Young Embryologist Network image competition!
This image, titled 'The Cleavages of Life', was captured by one of our talented postdocs.
It shows nine mouse embryos, each at the 16-cell stage, glowing amber and gold. The colour comes from a fluorescent protein introduced at the very start of embryonic development – the single-cell stage – that binds to cell membranes. As each embryo divides, every new cell membrane lights up. Where cells are packed tightest, the membranes overlap and the glow becomes almost white.
If you think science this visually arresting deserves recognition, now is the time to vote. Click the link in the comments to show your appreciation 🤩.

Your body is developed from a single fertilised egg. Every cell that develops from that egg carries the same DNA: the biological instruction manual that directs how cells are built and what they do. A liver cell and a brain cell carry identical instructions. So how does one become a liver cell and the other a brain cell?

The answer is not in the instructions themselves. It is in which instructions are locked away, or silenced. ​While this was already known, ​ARMI researchers, working with colleagues from Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, have discovered how cells control the extent of gene silencing.

Their study, published in Molecular Cell, identified how certain proteins mark genes accurately for silencing during embryonic development so that cells can maintain their normal identity throughout their entire life. For cancer research – where cells lose their identity – and for regenerative medicine, the study may open paths towards new therapeutic targets.

Full story via the link in the comments.

ARMI's 2025 Annual Report is out now. The report covers a year of research spanning muscle regeneration, Alzheimer's disease modelling, skeletal self-repair and spatial transcriptomics. All work that moves regenerative medicine closer to the people who need it.

Read the report at https://armi.org.au/news-media/annual-reports/armi-annual-report-2025/

What does science look like inside Parliament House?

ARMI postdocs Dr Elizabeth Reisman and Dr Benoit Haerlingen recently attended Science Meets Parliament 2026 in Canberra, where researchers from across Australia met policymakers, advisors and science leaders to discuss how scientific evidence can influence national decision-making.

One theme came through clearly in both of their experiences. Scientific evidence is important, but it’s communication that influences whether it is understood, remembered and applied. The program also gave them a rare look inside the realities of policymaking, from Question Time through to conversations with MPs and ministerial staff.

Read more via the link in the comments.

If you want to understand what regenerative medicine research looks like in Australia right now, have a listen to ARMI’s Peter Currie and Marguerite Evans-Galea on the Health Industry Hub podcast. They cover ARMI's Strategy 2030, the challenges that come with translating preclinical research into clinical trials, and what role AI might play in accelerating research.

Peter also talks through two significant discoveries from ARMI's labs: the science behind Mogrify, which models how to convert one adult cell type into another; and Myostellar, a spinout developing therapeutics for skeletal muscle regeneration in diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

You will need a Health Industry Hub subscription to listen, a free 14-day trial is available if you have not already signed up. The link to the episode is in the comments.

ARMI's Associate Professor Jenny Zenker is presenting at Pint of Science AU Melbourne next Tuesday, 19 May. Her talk looks at how a single cell becomes a living organism and what that process reveals about reproductive and regenerative medicine. She's one of three researchers on the night. No science background is needed to follow along.
Munich Brauhaus, 45 South Wharf Promenade. Doors at 6:30pm, talks from 7pm. The link for tickets is in the comments.

We’re excitedly preparing to launch ARMI’s Strategy 2030 this morning.
It sets the direction for regenerative medicine in Australia over the next five years, with clear goals and a defined plan to deliver them. Join us as we embark on this 5-year journey of dynamic growth and impact. More details later today!