History

History of the Lab

Our old building, the Rangos Research Center, on Fifth and McKee

The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Growth and Development Laboratory, originally called the Pediatric Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, was started on the fourth floor of the Rangos Research Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 1991 by Dr. Morey Moreland. In 1992 a newly built laboratory was completed. Dr. Moreland, along with several technicians, fellows, and graduate students and postdoctorale researchers, used the 1300 square-foot, newly constructed laboratory to investigate biological responses of rabbits to mechanical limb lengthening via the Ilizarov technique. Specifically, they studied the effects of limb lengthening on growth plates and muscles (i.e., how and where muscle growth occurs). Although Dr. Moreland and his laboratory personnel were quite successful in their research endeavors, he always intended to recruit a basic science researcher who could investigate the dynamics and growth of musculoskeletal tissues through the lens of basic science. After conducting an international candidate search in 1995, Dr. Moreland successfully recruited Dr. Johnny Huard, at the time a postdoctoral researcher studying Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in Dr. Joseph Glorioso’s laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, to take over as Director of the renamed laboratory, the Growth and Development Laboratory. Dr. Huard has directed the Growth and Development Laboratory since 1996, thereby allowing Dr. Moreland to focus on the clinical component of Orthpaedic Surgery. Dr. Moreland continues to be a valuable advisor to Dr. Huard and other researchers in the Growth and Development Laboratory.

The Growth and Development Laboratory underwent complete, state-of-the-art renovation in 2003. Located on the fourth floor of the Rangos Research Center, the 3500 square-foot laboratory is the home to an internationally and diverse staff focusing on projects to improve muscle healing and function by using muscle-based gene therapy and tissue engineering. Dr. Huard and members of his research team also collaborate extensively with fellow researchers throughout the University of Pittsburgh, the nation, and the world.

Overview and Research Interests

The current focus of the Growth and Development Laboratory is muscle-based gene therapy and tissue engineering for application to the musculoskeletal system, mainly as related to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and orthopaedic diseases and injuries. Tissue engineering is a recently new technology based on a combination of many disciplines such as biotechnology, molecular biology, cell biology, gene therapy and stem cell research. Using this technology, researchers in our lab are searching for novel ways to repair, replace, reconstruct, and regenerate damaged, diseased or absent tissues.

Director Johnny Huard, Ph.D.

Dr. Peault and Dr. Huard

Dr. Huard became the Director of the Growth and Development Laboratory in 1996. Since that time, the laboratory has more than tripled in size with more than 50 diverse professionals (including basic scientists, residents, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and administrative staff).

Dr. Huard’s main research focus is gene therapy to skeletal muscle, and he has received international recognition for his research discoveries in this area. He started to concentrate his efforts on gene therapy at the Masters level of his schooling, completing both his masters and doctoral graduate studies at Laval University (Quebec) under the direction of Dr. Jacques P. Tremblay, a leader in myoblast transplantation. His graduate studies were aimed at the development of approaches to alleviate the muscle weakness experienced by patients with DMD. Dr. Huard then completed postdoctoral fellowships with Dr. Karpati (McGill University, Montreal) and Dr. Joseph Glorioso (University of Pittsburgh), both of whom are international leaders in gene therapy.

His lab work in DMD concentrates on tissue engineering methods to deliver dystrophin to muscle. His current work involves taking dystrophic myoblasts engineered to express dystrophin and injecting them into host dystrophic animals to study the delivery of dystrophin to muscle. He is also investigating several gene therapy applications based on various viral and non-viral vectors for their ability to deliver dystrophin to dystrophic muscle, which includes identifying barriers that hinder viral transduction. He studied cell transplantation and immunology (Ph.D. thesis work) as well as adenoviruses, retroviruses, Herpes Simplex Virus, and gene therapy (first and second postdoctoral fellowships). Dr. Huard has applied the knowledge he has gained from researching DMD to other orthopaedic-related diseases and conditions, such as sports injuries and bone injuries and diseases.

In 2001, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (MIRM) was established to realize the potential of tissue engineering and other techniques aimed at repairing damaged or diseased tissues and organs. Dr. Huard serves within MIRM as the Deputy Director for Cellular Therapeutics. To learn more about MIRM, please visit www.mirm.pitt.edu.

Dr. Huard is also the Director for the Center for Cell Therapeutics (CCT), with Drs. Freddie Fu, Joseph Glorioso, and Joel Greenberger serving as Associate Directors. This Center is dedicated to the development of genetic approaches to improve tissue healing, regeneration, and the treatment of various pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, including DMD and other orthopaedic-related diseases and conditions.

In his role as the Associate Director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative (PTEI), Dr. Huard is helping to bring international researchers to Pittsburgh to advance the position of the Pittsburgh region in the worldwide scientific community. To learn more about the PTEI, please visit www.ptei.org.