# UK biology professor honored as 2026-27 University Research Professor **Published:** 2026-07-14T18:24:57.000Z **Source:** [University of Kentucky News](https://uknow.uky.edu/research/ashley-seifert-2026-27-university-research-professor-qa) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/uk-biology-professor-honored-as-2026-27-university-research-professor LEXINGTON, Ky. — A University of Kentucky biology professor whose groundbreaking work on tissue regeneration could one day transform treatment for burns, scars and damaged cartilage has been named a 2026-27 University Research Professor, according to [the university's announcement](https://uknow.uky.edu/research/ashley-seifert-2026-27-university-research-professor-qa). Ashley W. Seifert, a professor in the Department of Biology at UK's College of Arts and Sciences, was one of [17 faculty members honored](https://ci.uky.edu/about/news-and-media/2026/17-faculty-named-2026-27-university-research-professors) by the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees. The distinction recognizes excellence in research addressing scientific, social, cultural and economic challenges. Seifert's interdisciplinary research group studies how some mammals — particularly African spiny mice — can regenerate complex tissues that humans cannot. His team uses a comparative approach with wild and laboratory rodents to identify what enables tissue repair in some species while scarring and failure to regenerate occur in others. "They can regenerate all of the components of their skin including hair follicles, sebaceous glands and the underlying dermis, the structural component which gives the skin strength," Seifert has explained about spiny mice. "And then, in the ears, amazingly, they can regenerate cartilage." Seifert, who earned his doctorate from the University of Florida, joined UK in 2013 and was promoted to professor in 2024. He maintains an associate faculty position in the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center in UK's College of Medicine and serves as a visiting professor at the University of Nairobi, where his team collaborates with colleagues studying regeneration in wild rodent populations. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and National Geographic, and he has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles. Seifert hopes to use the award to build a campus-wide regeneration initiative connecting researchers across engineering, agriculture and medicine. Each University Research Professor receives a one-year award of $10,000. The professorships program, [established by the Board of Trustees in 1976](https://research.uky.edu/), recognizes excellence across the full spectrum of research at UK. ## Sources - [University of Kentucky News](https://uknow.uky.edu/research/ashley-seifert-2026-27-university-research-professor-qa) - [17 faculty named 2026-27 University Research Professors](https://ci.uky.edu/about/news-and-media/2026/17-faculty-named-2026-27-university-research-professors) - [UK Research – About the program](https://research.uky.edu/) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from University of Kentucky News, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://uknow.uky.edu/research/ashley-seifert-2026-27-university-research-professor-qa.