Disease Focus: Skeletal/Smooth Muscle disorders
Characterization of Human Skeletal Muscle Stem Cells for Clinical Application
Skeletal muscle makes up 40% of our bodies, dictates our form, is responsible for our ability to move, express ourselves, eat, breath and to look around. Restoration or preservation of the body’s normal form and function is the central goal of regenerative medicine and the central focus of my clinical specialty of plastic and reconstructive […]
Combination Therapy to Enhance Antisense Mediated Exon Skipping for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common muscular dystrophy and one of the most common fatal genetic disorders. Approximately one in every 3,500 boys worldwide is affected with DMD. Extrapolating from population based studies, there are over 15,000 people currently living with DMD in the US. DMD is a devastating and incurable muscle-wasting disease […]
Local Delivery of Rejuvenated Old Muscle Stem Cells to Increase Strength in Aged Patients
As humans age, the ability to regenerate skeletal muscle tissue is impaired. Injuries to the musculoskeletal system that require extended periods of immobilization lead to muscle atrophy and are particularly devastating to the elderly population. Loss of skeletal muscle mass and function reduces mobility, which negatively affects quality of life, and increases the risk of […]
Combination therapy to Enhance Antisense Mediated Exon Skipping for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
A drug was identified through the use of muscle stem cells that can enhance the effectiveness of exon skipping by antisense oligonucleotides to the DMD gene to restore dystrophin expression and at least partially correct the defect responsible for loss of muscle function in Duchenne. We propose to test the effectiveness of this drug in […]
Phenotypic Analysis of Human ES Cell-Derived Muscle Stem Cells
We study human muscle development, and are actively investigating potential cell-based therapies for the treatment of degenerative muscle diseases, such as muscle dystrophy. This project will define the pathway that muscle stem cells follow as they form new muscle, and identify which muscle stem cells are most useful for therapy. Our approach will be to […]
Stem Cell Therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common and serious form of muscular dystrophy. One out of every 3500 boys is born with the disorder, and it is invariably fatal. Until recently, there was little hope that the widespread muscle degeneration that accompanies this disease could be combated. However, stem cell therapy now offers that […]
Identification of hESC-mediated molecular mechanism that positively regulates the regenerative capacity of post-natal tissues
The tissue regenerative capacity deteriorates with age in animals and in humans, leading to the loss of organ function, which is well exemplified in skeletal muscle, but is poorly understood in molecular terms. Our recent work uncovered that factors produced by human embryonic stem cells have a unique ability to enhance the regenerative responses of […]
Skeletal muscle development from hESC and its in vivo applications in animal models of muscular dystrophy
Embryonic stem cells (ESC) originating from early stage embryos are able to differentiate into any type of cells in the body. The generation of ESC lines from human embryos (hESC) has attracted a lot of dispute among researchers, but raised the hope that one day hESCs can be used in cell replacement therapy for the […]
Purified allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells as a platform for tolerance induction
Blood and immune cells originate and mature in the bone marrow. Bone marrow cells are mixtures of blood cells at different stages of development, and include rare populations of blood-forming stem cells. These stem cells are the only cells capable of generating the blood system for the life of an individual. Bone marrow transplants (BMT) […]
Regulation of Stem Cell Fate in Bioengineered Arrays of Hydrogel Microwells
Stem cell biology, since its inception 30 years ago, has been hindered by our limited ability to observe and direct the decisions of individual stem cells. In the case of adult tissue-specific stem cells, such as those from blood, muscle or pancreas, the numbers available for clinical use are extremely limited, as in tissue culture […]