A Harvard University team’s research has been rescued by a 6-year-old girl’s generous fundraising donation that left everybody “flabbergasted,” one professor said.
Marianne Cullen of Springfield, Massachusetts, about an hour and a half drive to Harvard, loves axolotls.
The baby-faced salamanders live their whole lives underwater and can regrow a leg in about a month. Gamers may recognize the amphibians in a pixelated version from the video game Minecraft.
"There's more to them than just being cute," Marianne told CBS News. "They can grow back any limb...And there's way other animals that need saving, but this one is my destiny to save."
Jessica Whited, an assistant professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, leads research on axolotls at the Ivy League.
Whited explained how she and her team want to find out the “molecular secrets” of how axolotls regrow their legs with the hope of gaining insight into how humans could potentially regenerate limbs.
A few months ago, her team lost almost all its federal funding, which is when Marianne stepped in.
She held a fundraiser for Whited’s lab and was able to donate about $1,000.
"It definitely had a positive effect on everyone in the lab," Whited said.
"Everybody was just flabbergasted."
Federal funding for Whited’s lab has since been restored, for now, following court rulings on the matter.
"Not a lot of people get how important it is to save this animal," Marianne said.
