Thomas Lozito, PhD

Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine

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Overview

Dr. Thomas Lozito is currently an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at USC. Dr. Lozito received his Ph.D. in Stem Cell Biology at the Graduate Partnership Program University of Cambridge/NIH. His research studies limb and tail regeneration in salamanders and lizards with the long-term goal of developing strategies for improving mammalian regeneration. He is particularly interested in what accounts for divergent regenerative capabilities among vertebrates, and his lab at USC is one of the only labs in the world that studies both lizard and salamander tissue regeneration.

Research Funding

  • Cellular and molecular determinants of amniote regenerative potentials.
    NIH · R35GM158081 · Sep 1, 2025 – Aug 31, 2030 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Why don?t lizards regenerate perfect tails like salamanders?
    NIH · R01GM115444 · May 1, 2016 – Dec 31, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator

Publications

  • Probe Sequencing Analysis of Regenerating Lizard Tails Indicates Crosstalk Among Osteoclasts, Epidermal Cells, and Fibroblasts. J Dev Biol. 2025 May 03; 13(2).. View in PubMed
  • Simulation of adult limb regeneration with lizard tail spinal cord implants reveals distinct roles of radial glia and microglia populations. Res Sq. 2025 Mar 05.. View in PubMed
  • Repurposing of a gill gene regulatory program for outer-ear evolution. Nature. 2025 03; 639(8055):682-690.. View in PubMed
  • Ilastik: a machine learning image analysis platform to interrogate stem cell fate decisions across multiple vertebrate species. bioRxiv. 2024 Dec 22.. View in PubMed
  • Long-range Atoh1 enhancers maintain competency for hair cell regeneration in the inner ear. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 12 17; 121(51):e2418098121.. View in PubMed
  • Chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of the crested gecko, Correlophus ciliatus, a lizard incapable of tail regeneration. GigaByte. 2024; 2024:gigabyte140.. View in PubMed
  • Single-cell analysis of lizard blastema fibroblasts reveals phagocyte-dependent activation of Hedgehog-responsive chondrogenesis. Nat Commun. 2023 08 10; 14(1):4489.. View in PubMed
  • Inhibition of a signaling modality within the gp130 receptor enhances tissue regeneration and mitigates osteoarthritis. Sci Transl Med. 2023 03 22; 15(688):eabq2395.. View in PubMed
  • Lizard Blastema Organoid Model Recapitulates Regenerated Tail Chondrogenesis. J Dev Biol. 2022 Feb 10; 10(1).. View in PubMed
  • Introducing dorsoventral patterning in adult regenerating lizard tails with gene-edited embryonic neural stem cells. Nat Commun. 2021 10 14; 12(1):6010.. View in PubMed