Year 1
In the first year of the New Faculty Physician Scientist award, my colleagues and I have made progress on all 3 Aims. The majority of our focus in accordance with our planned timeline has been on Aim 1, where we have made the most significant progress and are preparing our first manuscript based on Aim 1 results. Aim 1 focuses on identification of appropriate donor muscles for human muscle stem cell applications. We are using the backdrop of knowledge that we have concerning mouse muscle stem cell biology to study human muscle stem cells. As human muscle stem cells have not been definitively characterized or transplanted, the initial main focus of this CIRM grant is to do so with stem cells from diverse muscles and, combined with our clinical understanding of expendability of different muscles, choose human muscles that will be appropriate to harvest stem cells from in future applications. For the experiments in Aim 2, we are testing injury and transplantation methods for human muscle stem cells that could potentially be used clinically. We have also begun work on Aim 3, developing preclinical models in which to test human muscle stem cell transplantation.