This snail’s eyes grow back: Could they help humans do the same?

University of California - Davis

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The golden apple snail has camera-type eyes that are fundamentally similar to the human eye. Unlike humans, the snail can regenerate a missing or damaged eye. UC Davis biologist Alice Accorsi is studying how the snails accomplish this feat. This knowledge could help us understand eye damage in humans and even lead to new ways to heal or regenerate human eyes. 

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Credit: Alice Accorsi, UC Davis

Human eyes are complex and irreparable, yet they are structurally like those of the freshwater apple snail, which can completely regenerate its eyes. Alice Accorsi, assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology at the University of California, Davis, studies how these snails regrow their eyes — with the goal of eventually helping to restore vision in people with eye injuries.

In a new study published Aug. 6 in Nature Communications, Accorsi shows that apple snail and human eyes share many anatomical and genetic features. 

“Apple snails are an extraordinary organism,” said Accorsi. “They provide a unique opportunity to study regeneration of complex sensory organs. Before this, we were missing a system for studying full eye regeneration.” 

Her team also developed methods for editing the apple snail’s genome, which will allow them to explore the genetic and molecular mechanisms behind eye regeneration.

A not-so-snail’s paced snail

The golden apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) is a freshwater snail species from South America. It’s now invasive in many places throughout the rest of the world, but Accorsi said the same traits that make apple snails so invasive also make them a good animal to work with in the lab.

“Apple snails are resilient, their generation time is very short, and they have a lot of babies,” she said.

In addition to being easy to grow in the lab, apple snails have “camera-type” eyes — the same type as humans.

Snails have been known for their regenerative abilities for centuries — in 1766, a researcher noted that decapitated garden snails can regrow their entire heads. However, Accorsi is the first to leverage this feature in regenerative research.

“When I started reading about this, I was asking myself, why isn’t anybody already using snails to study regeneration?” said Accorsi. “I think it’s because we just hadn’t found the perfect snail to study, until now. A lot of other snails are difficult or very slow to breed in the lab, and many species also go through metamorphosis, which presents an extra challenge.”

Eyes like a camera

There are many types of eyes in the animal kingdom, but camera-types eyes are known for producing particularly high-resolution images. They consist of a protective cornea, a lens for focusing light and a retina that contains millions of light-detecting photoreceptor cells. They are found in all vertebrates, some spiders, squid and octopi, and some snails. 

Using a combination of dissections, microscopy and genomic analysis, Accorsi’s team showed that the apple snail’s eyes are anatomically and genetically similar to human eyes. 

“We did a lot of work to show that many genes that participate in human eye development are also present in the snail,” Accorsi said. “After regeneration, the morphology and gene expression of the new eye is pretty much identical to the original one.”

How to regrow an eye

So, how do the snails regrow their eyes after amputation? The researchers showed that the process takes about a month and consists of several phases. First, the wound must heal to prevent infection and fluid loss, which usually takes around 24 hours. Then, unspecialized cells migrate and proliferate in the area. Over the course of about a week and a half, these cells specialize and begin to form eye structures including the lens and retina. By day 15 post-amputation, all of the eye’s structures are present, including the optic nerve, but these structures continue to mature and grow for several more weeks. 

“We still don't have conclusive evidence that they can see images, but anatomically, they have all the components that are needed to form an image,” said Accorsi. “It would be very interesting to develop a behavioral assay to show that the snails can process stimuli using their new eyes in the same way as they were doing with their original eyes. That’s something we’re working on.”

The team also investigated which genes were active during the regeneration process. They showed that immediately after amputation, the snails had about 9,000 genes that were expressed at different rates compared to normal adult snail eyes. After 28 days, 1,175 genes were still expressed differently in the regenerated eye, which suggests that although the eyes look fully developed after a month, complete maturation might take longer.

Genes for regeneration

To better understand how genes regulate regeneration, Accorsi developed methods to edit the snails’ genome using CRISPR-Cas9. 

“The idea is that we mutate specific genes and then see what effect it has on the animal, which can help us understand the function of different parts of the genome,” said Accorsi. 

As a first test, the team used CRISPR/Cas9 to mutate a gene called pax6 in snail embryos. Pax6 is known to control the development and organization of brain and eye in humans, mice and fruit flies. Like humans, snails have two copies of each gene – one from each parent. The researchers showed that when apple snails have two non-functional versions of pax6, they develop without eyes, which shows that pax6 is also essential for initial eye development in apple snails. 

Accorsi is working on the next step: testing whether pax6 also plays a role in eye regeneration. To determine this, researchers will need to mutate or turn off pax6 in adult snails and then test their regenerative ability. 

She is also investigating other eye-related genes, including genes that encode specific parts of the eye, like the lens or retina, and genes that control pax6.

“If we find a set of genes that are important for eye regeneration, and these genes are also present in vertebrates, in theory we could activate them to enable eye regeneration in humans,” said Accorsi. 

Additional authors on the study are Asmita Gattamraju of UC Davis, and Brenda Pardo, Eric Ross, Timothy J. Corbin, Melainia McClain, Kyle Weaver, Kym Delventhal, Jason A. Morrison, Mary Cathleen McKinney, Sean A. McKinney and Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Accorsi performed most of the research for this study at Stowers Institute for Medical Research, where she worked as a postdoctoral fellow before joining UC Davis in 2024.

The study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Society for Developmental Biology, the American Association for Anatomy and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-61681-6 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

A genetically tractable non-vertebrate system to study complete camera-type eye regeneration

Article Publication Date

6-Aug-2025

How the work began: Apple snails as a system for eye regeneration [VIDEO] 

Alice Accorsi discusses how she brought her research to the Stowers Institute in Kansas City after learning the invasive species had regenerative capabilities. 

Apple Snails can regrow their eyes, why can't we? [VIDEO] 

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado and Alice Accorsi discuss establishing the apple snail as a model for studying eye regeneration. 

Apple snail 

COMMON TO AQUARISTS

The process of apple snail eye regeneration from amputation to full restoration occurs in four stages over 28 days: wound healing, formation of a special cell mass, emergence of a lens and retina, and the maturation of all eye components.

Caption  Apple Snail eye embryo under microscope

Caption  For each stage of eye regeneration, the team collected and analyzed gene activity. This information about the timing of gene expression can be used to narrow down which genes are likely most promising for eye regeneration

Seeing with fresh eyes: Snails as a system for studying sight restoration

Stowers scientists have established the apple snail as a new research organism for investigating eye regeneration, which may hold the key for restoring vision due to damage and disease

Stowers Institute for Medical Research

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Apple snails have eyes that are anatomically similar to vertebrate eyes, including those in humans, with a lens, cornea, and retina.

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Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research

KANSAS CITY, MO—August 6, 2025—The eye of the apple snail is unusually similar to a human eye—but, unlike human eyes, it can regrow itself if injured or even amputated. New research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research has established the apple snail as a novel research organism to study eye regeneration, with the potential to better understand and find treatments for eye conditions in humans like macular degeneration.

The study, from the lab of Stowers President and Chief Scientific Officer Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Ph.D., published in Nature Communications on [date], describes a new system to study sensory organ regeneration in the apple snail, Pomacea canaliciulata. Led by former Postdoctoral Research Associate Alice Accorsi, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis, the research team discovered that the apple snail has complex camera-type eyes like humans and also developed tools to alter its genome, resulting in snails with stable gene variations that can help researchers better understand the process of regeneration.

“Our eyes are extremely important for perceiving our environment, yet when damaged are unable to recover,” said Accorsi.

“Essentially we had no way to identify solutions for treating conditions like retinal degeneration or physical injury to the eye,” added Sánchez Alvarado. “But nature has answers for us. We now have a tractable system for investigating which genes are responsible for camera-type eye regeneration.”  

The process of apple snail eye regeneration from amputation to full restoration occurs in four stages over 28 days: wound healing, formation of a special cell mass, emergence of a lens and retina, and the maturation of all eye components. Because vertebrates including humans can only perform the first stage, wound healing, the researchers are looking at where regeneration and development diverge and are trying to identify what switch snails use to reactivate new eye development.

Apple snails have eyes that are anatomically similar to vertebrate eyes, including those in humans, with a lens, cornea, and retina. The researchers identified that a gene called pax6—known to play a crucial role in vertebrate and fruit fly eye development—is also present in apple snails. 

“A key gene governing eye development in vertebrates is pax6, and we showed for the first time that apple snails not only have pax6 but also that this gene is critical for their eyes to develop,” said Accorsi.

In the lab, the team optimized the gene-editing technique CRISPR-Cas9 for apple snails that allowed them to disrupt pax6 gene function. The new line of snails was healthy yet noticeably missing their eyes.

“There were two big moments where I felt this was something that could be important for the entire scientific community,” said Accorsi. “The first was discovering that the snail eye was just like a human eye. The second was observing these tiny embryos without eyes after disrupting pax6, and realizing we can use snails as a system for understanding gene function.”  

“To have a research system that regenerates eyes, combined with the ability to do genetics in that system is among the first efforts in the history of science to gain a mechanistic understanding of the processes that underpin the restoration of a sensory organ as complex as the eye—from injury all the way to its regeneration,” said Sánchez Alvarado.

Angus Davison, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Nottingham commented on the potential of the study. “Previously, progress in understanding mollusks and their genomes has been limited because there is no widely used genetically tractable species,” he said. “This work showcases the potential of apple snails as a novel system to uncover the genetic mechanisms behind mollusk development.”

For each stage of eye regeneration, the team collected and analyzed gene activity. This information about the timing of gene expression can be used to narrow down which genes are likely most promising for eye regeneration.  

“We now have a list of candidate genes,” said Accorsi. “Going forward, we plan to disrupt these genes to test if they are required for regeneration and development of the eye.”

“With a little bit of effort, a little bit of ingenuity, and a great deal of persistence, biology that seemed inaccessible is no longer a pipe dream,” said Sánchez Alvarado. “Our work with the apple snails is proof positive—it really is possible to bring something that was far beyond what we thought we could do into the realm of real possibility to advance biological knowledge.”

“It was a big risk,” said Sánchez Alvarado. “But it worked.”

Additional authors include Brenda Pardo, Ph.D., Eric Ross, Ph.D., Timothy Corbin, Ph.D., Melania McClain, Ph.D., Kyle Weaver, Ph.D., Kym Delventhal, Ph.D., Jason Morrison, Ph.D., Mary Cathleen McKinney, Ph.D., and Sean McKinney, Ph.D.

This work was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Society for Developmental Biology, the American Association for Anatomy, and by institutional support from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Founded in 1994 through the generosity of Jim Stowers, founder of American Century Investments, and his wife, Virginia, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research is a non-profit, biomedical research organization with a focus on foundational research. Its mission is to expand our understanding of the secrets of life and improve life’s quality through innovative approaches to the causes, treatment, and prevention of diseases.

The Institute consists of 20 independent research programs. Of the approximately 500 members, over 370 are scientific staff that include principal investigators, technology center directors, postdoctoral scientists, graduate students, and technical support staff. Learn more about the Institute at www.stowers.org and about its graduate program at www.stowers.org/gradschool.

Media Contact:

Joe Chiodo, Director of Communications
724.462.8529
press@stowers.org

---

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-61681-6 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

A genetically tractable non-vertebrate system to study complete camera-type eye regeneration

Article Publication Date

6-Aug-2025

 

'Arctic Monkeys': Early primates survived in cold climates, not tropical forests

University of Reading

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Primates - the group of animals that includes monkeys, apes and humans - first evolved in cold, seasonal climates around 66 million years ago, not in the warm tropical forests scientists previously believed. 

Researchers from the University of Reading used statistical modelling and fossil data to reconstruct ancient environments and trace where the common ancestors of all modern primates lived.  

The study, published today (Tuesday, 5 August) in the journal PNAS, says these first primates most likely lived in North America in a cold climate with hot summers and freezing winters, overturning the long-held "warm tropical forest hypothesis" that has long influenced evolutionary biology. 

Jorge Avaria-Llautureo, lead author at the University of Reading, said: "For decades, the idea that primates evolved in warm, tropical forests has gone unquestioned. Our findings flip that narrative entirely. It turns out primates didn't emerge from lush jungles - they came from cold, seasonal environments in the northern hemisphere. 

“Understanding how ancient primates survived climate change helps us think about how living species might respond to modern climate change and environmental changes.” 

Moving to survive 

Primates that could travel far when their local weather changed quickly were better at surviving and having babies that lived to become new species.  

When primates moved to completely different, more stable climates, they travelled much further distances - about 561 kilometres on average compared to just 137 kilometres for those staying in similar, unstable climates. Early primates may have survived freezing winters by hibernating like bears do today - slowing down their heart rate and sleeping through the coldest months to save energy. Some small primates still do this - dwarf lemurs in Madagascar dig themselves underground and sleep for several months when it gets too cold, protecting themselves from freezing temperatures under layers of roots and leaves. 

Primates didn't reach tropical forests until millions of years later. They started in cold places, then moved to mild climates, then to dry desert-like areas, and finally made it to the hot, wet jungles we see them in today. When local temperatures or rainfall changed quickly in any direction, primates were forced to find new homes, which helped create new species. 

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2423833122 

Article Title

The radiation and geographic expansion of primates through diverse climates

Article Publication Date

5-Aug-2025

 

There’s something fishy going on with great white sharks that scientists can’t explain

Florida Museum of Natural History

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Differences between the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of white sharks, once thought to be caused by their migration patterns, is likely caused by another — as of yet unknown — factor.

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Credit: Photo by Greg Skomal

Key points

• White sharks exhibit stark differences between the DNA in their nuclei and the DNA in their mitochondria. Until now, scientists have pointed to the migration patterns of great whites to explain these differences.

• Scientists tested this theory in a new study by analyzing genetic differences between global white shark populations. In doing so, they discovered that great whites were restricted to a single population in the Indo-Pacific Ocean at the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago and have since expanded to their current global distribution.

• The results also invalidate the migration theory, but an alternative explanation remains elusive.

White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) almost went bottom-up during the last ice age, when sea levels were much lower than they are today and sharks had to get by with less space. The most recent cold snap ended about 10,000 years ago, and the planet has been gradually warming ever since. As temperatures increased, glaciers melted, and sea levels rose, which was good news for great whites.

Results of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that white sharks had been reduced to a single, well-mixed population somewhere in the southern Indo-Pacific Ocean. White sharks began genetically diverging about 7,000 years ago, suggesting that they had broken up into two or more isolated populations by this time.

This is new information but not particularly surprising. There are never many white sharks around even at the best of times, as befits their status at the top of the tapered food chain, where a lack of elbow room limits their numbers. Today, there are three genetically distinct white shark populations: one in the southern hemisphere around Australia and South Africa, one in the northern Atlantic and another in the northern Pacific. Though widespread, the number of white sharks still remains low.

“There are probably about 20,000 individuals globally,” said study co-author Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. “There are more fruit flies in any given city than there are great white sharks in the entire world.”

Organisms with small populations can be pushed dangerously close to the edge of extinction when times are tough. Mile-high glaciers extended from the poles and locked away so much water that by 25,000 years ago, sea levels had plunged by about 40 meters (131 feet), eliminating habitat and restricting great whites to an oceanic corral.

But something happened to great whites during their big comeback that remains as much of a mystery now as it was when it was first discovered more than 20 years ago. The primary motivation for this study was to lay out a definitive explanation, but despite using one of the largest genetic datasets on white sharks ever compiled, things did not go quite according to plan.

“The honest scientific answer is we have no idea,” Naylor said.

Female great white sharks wander off for years to feed but come back home to breed

Scientists first got a whiff of something strange in 2001, when a research team published a paper that opened with the line, “… information about … great white sharks has been difficult to acquire, not least because of the rarity and huge size of this fish.”

The authors of that study compared genetic samples taken from dozens of sharks in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They found that though the DNA produced and stored in the nuclei of their cells were mostly the same between individuals, the mitochondrial DNA of sharks from South Africa were distinctly different from those in Australia and New Zealand.

The seemingly obvious explanation was that great whites tend to stick together and rarely make forays into neighboring groups. Over time, unique genetic mutations would have accumulated in each group, which, if it went on long enough, would result in the formation of new species.

This would explain the observed differences in their mitochondrial DNA but not why the nuclear DNA was virtually identical among all three populations. To account for that, the authors suggested that male sharks traveled vast distances throughout the year, but females either never traveled far, or if they did, they most often came back to the same place during the breeding season, a type of migration pattern called philopatry.

This idea was based on the fact that nuclear and mitochondrial DNA are not inherited in equal proportion in plants and animals. The DNA inside nuclei is passed down by both parents to their offspring, but only one — most often the female — contributes mitochondria to the next generation. This is a holdover from the days when mitochondria were free-living bacteria, before they were unceremoniously engulfed and repurposed by the ancestor of eukaryotes.  

This was a good guess and had the added benefit of later turning out to be mostly accurate. Male and female great whites do travel large distances in search of food throughout the year, and females consistently make the return journey before it’s time to mate.

Thus, the nuclear DNA of great whites should have less variation, because itinerant males go around mixing things up, while the mitochondrial DNA in different populations should be distinct because philopatric females ensure all the unique differences stay in one place. This has remained the favored explanation for the last two decades, one that seemed to fit like a well-worn glove. Except, no one ever got around to actually putting it on to test its size. This is primarily because the data needed to do so was hard to get for the same reasons mentioned in the touchstone study: There aren’t many great white sharks, and when researchers do manage to find one, taking a DNA sample without losing any appendages in the process can be tricky business.

Shark migration cannot explain nuclear and mitochondrial discordance, so what can?

Naylor and his colleagues began collecting the necessary data back in 2012. “I wanted to get a white shark nuclear genome established to explore its molecular properties,” he said. “White sharks have some very peculiar attributes, and we had about 40 or 50 samples that I thought we could use to design probes to look at their population structure.”

Over the next few years, they also sequenced DNA from about 150 white shark mitochondrial genomes, which are smaller and less expensive to assemble than their nuclear counterparts. The samples came from all over the world, including the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.

When they compared the two types of DNA, they found the same pattern as the one discovered in 2001. At the population level, white sharks in the North Atlantic rarely mixed with those from the South Atlantic. The same was true of sharks in the Pacific and Indian oceans. At a molecular level, the nuclear DNA among all white sharks remained fairly consistent, while the mitochondrial DNA showed a surprising amount of variation.

The researchers were aware of the philopatric theory and ran a few tests to see if it held up, first by looking specifically at the nuclear DNA. If the act of returning to the same place to mate really were the cause of the strange mitochondrial patterns, some small signal of that should also show up in the nuclear DNA, of which females contribute half to their offspring.

“But that wasn’t reflected in the nuclear data at all,” Naylor said.

Next, they concocted a sophisticated test for the mitochondrial genomes. To do this, they first had to reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of white sharks, which is how they discovered the single southern population they’d been reduced to during the last ice age.

“They were really few and far between when sea levels were lowest. Then the population increased and moved northward as the ice melted. We suspect they remained in those northern waters because they found a reliable food source,” Naylor said. Specifically, they encountered seals, which are a dietary staple among white sharks and one of the main reasons why they have such a strong fidelity to specific locations.

“These white sharks come along, get a nice blubbery sausage. They fatten up, they breed, and then they move off around the ocean.”

Knowing when the sharks split up was key, as each group would have begun genetically diverging from each other at this time. All the researchers had to do was determine whether the 10,000 years between now and the last ice age would have been enough time for the mitochondrial DNA to have accumulated the number of differences observed in the data if philopatry was the primary culprit.

They ran a simulation to find the answer, which came back negative. Philopatry is undoubtedly a behavioral pattern among great whites, but it was not responsible for the large mitochondrial schism.

So Naylor and his colleagues went back to the drawing board to figure out what sort of evolutionary force could account for the differences.

“I came up with the idea that sex ratios might be different — that just a few females were contributing to the populations from one generation to the next,” Naylor said. This type of reproductive skew can be observed in a variety of organisms, including meerkats, cichlid fish and many types of social insects.

But yet another test showed that reproductive skew did not apply to white sharks.

There is a third, albeit less likely, option the team members said they can’t rule out at this stage, namely that natural selection is responsible for the differences. The reason why this is far-fetched has to do with the relative strength of evolutionary forces. Natural selection — the idea that the organisms best suited to leave behind offspring will, in fact, generally be the ones that have the most offspring — is always active, but it has the strongest effect in large populations. Smaller populations, in contrast, are more susceptible to something called genetic drift, in which random traits — even harmful ones — have a much higher chance of being passed down to the next generation.

Florida panthers, for example, are highly endangered, with only a few hundred individuals left in the wild. Most of them have a kink at the end of their tail, likely inherited from a single ancestor. In a large population, subject primarily to natural selection, this trait would have either remained uncommon or disappeared entirely over time. But in a small population, a single cat with a kinked tail can change the world purely by chance through the auspices of genetic drift.

By way of comparison, gravity exerts a force at all scales of matter and energy, but it is by far the weakest of the four fundamental physical forces. At the scale of planets and stars, gravity can hold solar systems and galaxies together, but it has very little influence on the shape or interactions of atoms, which are governed by the three stronger but more localized forces, such as electromagnetism.

According to the study’s results, genetic drift cannot explain the differences between mitochondria in great whites. Because it is a completely random process, it cannot selectively target one type of DNA and spare another. If it were the culprit, similar changes would also be evident in the nuclear DNA.

This leaves natural selection as the only other possibility, which seems unlikely because of the small population sizes among white sharks. If it is the causative agent, Naylor said, the selective force “would have to be brutally lethal.”

If you collect enough mass in a concentrated space, say on the order of a black hole, the otherwise benign force of gravity becomes powerful enough to devour light.

If natural selection is at play in this case, it would manifest itself in a similarly powerful way. Any deviation from the mitochondrial DNA sequence most common in a given population would likely be fatal, thus ensuring it was not passed on to the next generation.

But this is far from certain, and Naylor has his doubts about the validity of such a conclusion. For now, scientists are left with an open-ended question that can only be resolved with further study.

Additional co-authors of the study are: Romuald Laso-Jadart, Elise Gaya, Pierre Lesturgie and Stefano Mona of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Shannon L. Corrigan, Lei Yang and Adrian Lee of the Florida Museum of Natural History; Olivier Fedrigo of the The Rockefeller University; Christopher Lowe and Kady Lyons of California State University Long Beach; Greg Skomal of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; Geremy Cliff of the University of KwaZulu-Natal; Mauricio Hoyos Padilla of Pelagios-Kakunjá Marine Conservation; Charlie Huveneers of Flinders University; Keiichi Sato of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium; and James Glancy of the British Museum of Natural History.

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2507931122 

Article Title

A genomic test of sex-biased dispersal in white sharks

Article Publication Date

4-Aug-2025

 

Unlocking the value of intangible assets abroad requires strong board oversight, new study finds

Strategic Management Society

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As companies increasingly compete on the basis of technology, brand, and knowledge, a new study reveals that the effectiveness of corporate boards plays a critical role in maximizing the value of intangible assets—especially during international expansion through acquisitions.

In a study recently published in the Global Strategy Journal, researchers Xavier Martin (Tilburg University) and Tao Han (emlyon business school) analyzed 675 cross-border acquisitions by U.S. public firms to understand how intangible assets contribute to firm value abroad—and under what conditions.

Their findings are clear: while firms with high R&D and advertising intensity generally enjoy stronger market reactions to foreign acquisitions, those benefits are significantly enhanced when the company’s board is structured for effective governance.

"Intangible assets like proprietary technologies or brands are central to global competitiveness," said Professor Martin. "But they travel poorly across borders. Without the right oversight and strategic insight at the board level, firms risk leaving substantial value on the table."

The research assessed market returns using event-study methodology and focused on two key types of intangibles—technology (measured by R&D intensity) and marketing (measured by advertising intensity). Crucially, the study matched each acquisition with four critical dimensions of board effectiveness:

• Independence: Boards with a higher proportion of independent (non-executive) directors and a clear separation of CEO and board chair roles
• Expertise: Directors with international managerial experience
• Bandwidth: Fewer overextended board members (i.e., those serving on multiple boards)
• Motivation: Higher director share ownership aligning board interests with shareholder value

The study found that companies with boards scoring highly on these dimensions achieved greater abnormal stock returns following acquisition announcements, especially when deploying technology-intensive strategies abroad. The results suggest that effective governance structures help companies navigate the challenges of internationalizing intangibles—including information gaps, unfamiliar markets, and strategic disclosure decisions.

These insights are timely given the escalating global race for innovation leadership, particularly in fast-moving sectors like artificial intelligence. As investment in intangibles grows, so does the need for governance models that can translate such assets into sustained competitive advantage.

"Our study underscores that it’s not enough for firms to invest in R&D or build strong brands," said Professor Han. "They must also empower their boards to provide the oversight, expertise, and incentive alignment needed to realize that value in complex global markets."

The findings offer actionable takeaways for corporate leaders, investors, and policymakers seeking to strengthen international performance. As intangible assets become ever more central to value creation, companies must view board governance as a strategic asset in its own right.

To read the full context of the study and its methods, access the full paper available in the Global Strategy Journal.

About the Strategic Management Society

The Strategic Management Society (SMS) is the leading global member organization fostering and supporting rigorous and practice-engaged strategic management research. SMS enjoys the support of 3,000 members, representing more than 1,100 institutions and companies in more than 70 countries. SMS publishes three leading academic journals in partnership with Wiley: Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal. These journals publish top-quality work applicable to researchers and practitioners with complementary access for all SMS Members. The SMS Explorer offers the latest insights and takeaways from the SMS Journals for business practitioners, consultants, and academics.

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Click here to learn more about the programs and opportunities SMS has to offer.

 

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Journal

Global Strategy Journal

DOI

10.1002/gsj.1524 

Article Title

Board effectiveness and internalization benefits: Theory and evidence from value creation in cross-border acquisitions