OVERVIEW
Skeletal muscle is essential for respiration, locomotion, and elimination of waste. Maintenance of skeletal muscle mass and function requires continuous cellular turnover and robust regenerative capacity. Muscle regeneration and homeostasis are intimately linked to a pool of muscle stem cells (MuSCs) that activates, expands, and self-renews to repair and maintain tissue mass. Loss or corruption of this adult stem cell compartment is implicated in diverse muscle pathologies/wasting disorders including sarcoma, certain muscular dystrophies, sarcopenia, and cachexia. The health care problems and costs associated with these pathologies are a significant concern, especially as our population ages. Our lab endeavors to understand the role of MuSCs/muscle regeneration within the context of wasting and to decipher mechanisms underlying disease/trauma-associated MuSC dysfunction. Ultimately, we aim to explore the potential of regeneration-promoting interventions to counteract muscle wasting and improve clinical disease management.
Post-doctoral Fellowship - University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 2016
Post-doctoral Fellowship - Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain 2012
Ph.D. - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 2010
