SCI Faculty Strengths in Skeletal Muscle Stem Cell Research Showcased

Skeletal muscle stem cells are responsible for muscle repair after exercise or injury and are a potential source of cells for transplantation therapies for individuals suffering from muscle diseases like muscular dystrophies.  Several groups in the Stem Cell Institute have established important processes for the production, study, and transplantation of skeletal muscle stem cells.  They have shared these specialized methodologies in a recent volume of Methods in Molecular Biology entitled "Skeletal Muscle Stem Cells - Methods and Protocols", which was edited by SCI faculty member Atsushi Asakura.  This volume includes chapters by Drs. Asakura, Sunny Chan, Michael Kyba, and Rita Perlingeiro, in which they share detailed protocols for imaging 3-dimensional skeletal muscle specimens,  analyzing skeletal muscle progenitors from stem cell-derived tumors, measuring stem cell properties of skeletal muscle stem cells, and culturing mature structures through the differentiation and maturation of human pluripotent stem cells.