“Mechanical and industrial engineering and bioengineering professor Sandra Shefelbine, in collaboration with biology professor James Monaghan, was awarded a $625,000 NSF grant for ‘In Vivo Mechanotransduction During Limb Growth’ to understand the mechanical signaling involved in limb growth. The researchers will use axolotls, a type of salamander that can regrow limbs, to study how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces. They believe that this research could lead to new insights into how limbs develop and regenerate.”