About Us
The SCRC is staffed by a diverse team of research professionals who search for novel ways to repair, replace, reconstruct and regenerate damaged or diseased tissues. At present, on-going work includes:
- Investigation into the improvement of muscle healing through prevention of fibrosis.
- Investigation in the characterization of the biology of muscle derived stem cells from adult tissue.
- Muscle stem cell based tissue engineering/gene therapy to improve bone, cartilage, nerve and cardiac repair.
- Improving dystrophic muscle function via stem cell transplantation.
- Using muscle cells to deliver genes to the bladder and urethra, in order to improve urological dysfunctions (In collaboration with Dr. Michael Chancellor, Department of Urology).
More specifically, Dr. Huard and those working in the SCRC have come to focus their efforts on a several disorders in particular. These include Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, muscle injury repair, arthritis and joint injuries, cardiac regeneration, and overcoming rejection in gene transfer.
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Researchers are focusing on fundamental research in muscle growth as well as in the development of applications of gene delivery systems to muscle in order to eventually apply this technology to dystrophin delivery to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) muscles. Efforts are aimed at defining those barriers to viral transduction of mature muscle, then investigating methods by which the barriers can be overcome. The proposed research should define and eliminate one of the major hurdles facing the application of gene therapy to DMD patients.
Muscle Injury Repair
Scientific projects are under investigation in the laboratory in order to characterize the efficiency of myoblast transplantation and autologous myoblast transfer as gene delivery systems for skeletal muscle. The development of approaches capable of improving muscle growth and regeneration also may be amenable for the improvement of muscle healing following muscle injuries. These muscle injuries are very frequent in sports medicine, and research is being pursued in our laboratory in regatrds to the development of models for different muscle injuries including, laceration, contusion and tears to increase our understanding of the cells' ability to recover. Also,many trophic factors are under investigation for their ability to promote cellular proliferation and differentiation, including: myoblasts, chondrocytes, ligament cells and meniscal cells. The characterization of trophic factors that enhance the myoblast proliferation and differentiation may be used in the future to improve the healing of such tissues following injury.
Arthritis and Joint Injuries
Researchers have started some projects related to the application of new strategies to deliver genes to the joint. Recently, a project has been started aimed at determining whether muscle cells can be used as an alternative vehicle for gene transfer to the joint.
Cardiac Regeneration
Over the past year, researchers have begun to deliver mouse and human stem cells into the cardiac tissue of mice with acute heart attacks.
Overcoming Rejection in Gene Transfer
Researchers are also engineering cells capable of expressing various immuno-tolerant molecules such as, vIL-10, TGF-b, FasL and CTLA4Ig in an effort to bypass the immunological problems and eventually allow a persistent gene transfer to skeletal muscle and the joint.
Funding
We recieve funding from a variety of local, intramural and federal sources, including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the American Heart Association, Pfizer and Jesse's Journey.
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