After completing post-doctoral studies, Brockes conducted research and teaching at California Institute of Technology, King's College London and University College London. He investigated cellular interactions in the mammalian peripheral nervous system, and the mechanisms underlying limb regenerationinsalamanders.[4] His work on the PNS yielded a method for purification and
culture of rodent Schwann cells.[5] This led to the identification of Glial Growth Factor, an early member of the Neuregulin family of growth factors that are key regulators in tissues such as heart and brain, as well as the PNS.
His work on limb regeneration included studies on dedifferentiation, nerve dependence of regeneration, positional identity, senescent cells, and regeneration
as an evolutionary variable.
Brockes JP, Kintner CR. Glial Growth Factor and nerve-dependent proliferation in the regeneration blastema of urodele amphibians. Cell 45, 301-306 (1986)
Tanaka EM, Gann AA, Gates PB, Brockes JP. Newt myotubes re-enter the cell cycle by phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein. J. Cell Biol.136, 155-165 (1997).
Morais da Silva S, Gates PB, Brockes JP. The newt ortholog of CD59 is implicated in proximodistal identity during amphibian limb regeneration. Dev. Cell 3, 547-555 (2002)
Kanu N, Imokawa Y, Drechsel DN, Williamson RA, Birkett CR, Bostock CJ, Brockes JP.Transfer of scrapie prion infectivity by cell contact in culture.Current Biology 12, 523-530 (2002)
Kumar A, Godwin JW, Gates PB, Garza-Garcia AA, Brockes JP. Molecular basis for the nerve dependence of limb regeneration in an adult vertebrate.Science 330, 485-490 (2007).
Yun MH, Davaapil H, Brockes JP. Recurrent turnover of senescent cells during regeneration of a complex structure. eLife May 5, (2015)
