Welcome to the Becker Group
Our research contributes to a better understanding of the factors governing regenerative neurogenesis and axonal pathfinding in spinal cord regeneration. We are using the zebrafish model to identify fundamental mechanisms in vertebrates with clear translational implications for CNS injury and neurodegenerative diseases..
How to Repair the Spinal Cord?
Recent Lab News!
Stephen contributed a talk on the role of tissue mechanics in spinal cord regeneration to the Cell Physics 2025 conference hosted by Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany. The program included a wide range of topics in biophysics, from mechanobiology, to machine learning!
Alberto presented a poster on his work which focuses on the role of immune signaling on regenerative neurogenesis after spinal cord injury at the 20th National Congress of the Spanish Society of Neuroscience in Gran Canaria, Spain. The program covered a wide variety of topics, from developmental biology to regeneration.
Catherina was invited to give a talk on “Complex intercellular signaling regulates spinal cord repair in zebrafish” at Institut Curie in Paris!
On June 20th, we took visitors behind the scenes of zebrafish research at the Long Night of Science Dresden — and what a night it was! From 5 PM until midnight, the 3rd floor of the CRTD was buzzing with curious minds of all ages. Together with the Ninov group, we joined forces to highlight how zebrafish are driving cutting-edge research at the CRTD.
On March 13, 2025, leading experts gathered for an insightful webinar on stem cell-based approaches for spinal cord injury repair. Hosted by FENS CHET and SfN’s Neuroscience Training Committee, the event featured groundbreaking discussions on neurogenesis, stem cell secretomes, and engineered neural stem cells.
We are thrilled to share that the Women in Life Sciences Symposium 2025 was a great success! Hosted at the CRTD in Dresden by Prof. Mareike Albert and Prof. Franziska Knopf, the event brought together an inspiring community of female scientists for an afternoon of insightful discussions and networking.
We are delighted to share that Dr. Rachel Branch has successfully defended her PhD thesis! Rachel was the final PhD student from our lab at The University of Edinburgh, marking the end of an era.
Thomas gave a career development talk for the CMCB Postdoc Community meeting, discussing his experiences building and maintaining a new master’s program at the University of Edinburgh! The meeting was an engaging discussion about a career step that many in the Postdoc Community are heading toward.
The Becker Group has a new preprint on bioRxiv! The paper, “Microglia signals to fibroblasts and neural progenitors to control regenerative neurogenesis after spinal cord injury in zebrafish” was spearheaded by Alberto Docampo-Seara, and shows how microglia restricts/controls the neurogenic potential of neural progenitors by direct signaling to them and also by an indirect interaction with fibroblasts.
From October 7-11, 2024, our team attended the EMBO Workshop: The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Regeneration and Tissue Repair in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France. It was an incredible week filled with exciting discussions, new insights, and great company in a stunning setting! Catherina, Thomas, Alberto, Rachel, Luisa, Markus, Özge, and Xiaobo all presented ongoing work in the group.
The Becker Group has a new publication in Life Science Alliance! The article, titled “Microglia are essential for tissue contraction in wound closure after brain injury in zebrafish larvae”, was led by Francois El-Daher. The study found that following traumatic brain injury in larval zebrafish, that microglia accumulate within the injury site and exert force in the inside of the injury site to pull the wound closed.
New Publications and Preprints!
Xiaobo’s new preprint, “A reparative neutrophil subpopulation promotes spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish by controlling macrophage inflammation via Il-4” is now live on bioRxiv! Check it out here!
Alberto’s new preprint, “Microglia attenuate regenerative neurogenesis via sema4ab after spinal cord injury in zebrafish” is now live on bioRxiv! Check it out here!
A new collaborative preprint contributed to by Ana-Maria and Sofiia, “Altered lysosomal biology impairs motor neuron survival via TFEB dysregulation in spinal muscular atrophy” is now live on bioRxiv! Check it out here!
Upcoming Lab Events!
Markus will be giving a talk at the CRTD’s symposium on the “Epigenetic Deregulation of Cell Fate in Human Diseases”! The event program covers a range of topics from organoid and in vivo disease models, as well as new technology to study epigenetic changes in disease and regeneration.
Catherina will be giving a keynote lecture at the 2026 EMBO Practical Course for Spinal cord injury models! The course aims to support early-career researchers in learning a range of in vitro and in vivo spinal cord injury models, particularly using mouse, rat, and zebrafish.
Zebrafish at the Long Night of Science 2026! The Becker Group is once again organizing the zebrafish research exhibition at the Long Night of Science at the CRTD. For more information, check out the organizer’s website here!
Catherina gave a plenary lecture on spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish at the Collaborative Academic Research Excellence (CARE) Conference 2025, organized by the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras! This year’s conference, “Molecules to Medicine: Bioengineering for One Health” focused on a range of biological scales, from structure to translation.