Year 1

The overall goal of this project was to use hESCs to define the cellular and functional phenotypes of human muscle stem cells as they differentiate along the muscle lineage, and specifically evaluate their ability to augment tissue and function of dystrophic muscle. Toward this goal, we have evaluated one muscle-specific reporter hESC line, generated a second line using another muscle-specific promoter, developed three alternative methods for directing myoblast differentiation from hESCs in culture, and piloted injections of hESC-derived myogenic precursor cells into hind limb muscle of immunodeficient mice.