News & Events: Muscle Stem Cells and Regeneration

Jason H. Pomerantz, M.D., associate professor of surgery and surgical director of the UCSF Craniofacial Center, has been awarded a 5-year $1.7M R01 grant from National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) to study muscle stem cells, a subpopulation of muscle progenitors that are focal points of vulnerability in muscle dysfunction from disease, trauma or aging. Project Narrative "Muscle dysfunction from disease, trauma or aging, a major health care burden not adequately alleviated by available therapies, could be greatly reduced by treatments that directly [...]

UCSF News reports on research in the UCSF Program in Craniofacial Biology using stem cells from patients with craniofacial deformities to better understand how these design flaws occur in fetal development. Among other research projects, the article reported on the work of Jason H. Pomerantz, M.D., Surgical Director of the UCSF Craniofacial Center, who is using stem cells and regenerative techniques to reconstruct tiny muscles in the face using a humanized organ in a mouse model. Together, these members of the UC San Francisco faculty are cultivating organs of the craniofacial complex – [...]

Alvin Wong, M.D., a plastic surgery research fellow in the Pomerantz Lab, was awarded a grant by the Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) to study "skeletal muscle regeneration by human satellite cells following denervation". The award, funded by a National Endowment for Plastic Surgery Grant, was one of eleven representing the "newest, clinically relevant research in plastic surgery".  The grant to Dr. Wong is also notable in that most such awards go to established principal Investigators with faculty appointments, a testament to the unique quality and scientific promise of the underlying [...]

UCSF News reports on research by Xiaoti Xu, M.D. and a team in the Pomerantz Lab showing that human muscle stem cells could be transplanted into a new environment and have the capacity to regenerate lost muscle tissue. Dr. Xu is a UCSF Plastic Surgery Resident and former research fellow in the lab.  The image shows cross-sectioned muscle fibers as black shapes outlined in green. The catch: these are human muscle fibers, grown from human stem cells. Xiaoti Xu, MD, a resident physician in UC San Francisco's Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, studies a type of stem cell called [...]

UCSF News reports on a new science image and video competition, the first of its kind at UCSF.  An image submitted by Xiaoti Xu, M.D., UCSF Plastic Surgery Resident and alumni of the Pomerantz Lab, developed with the help of Hua Tian, Ph.D., a specialist in the lab, was among the top 15 finalists out of more than 140 entries and appeared in the accompanying slideshow to the story. A mouth forms as a single celled animal prepares to multiply, a mutant heart stutters and within a lung, a cell shatters into fragments that keep blood healthy. These are only a sampling of the stunning visuals [...]

UCSF News reports on the work of a research team, led by UCSF plastic and reconstructive surgeon Jason Pomerantz, MD, in which human muscle stem cells were successfully isolated with the potential to replicate and repair damaged muscles when grafted onto an injured site.  UC San Francisco researchers have successfully isolated human muscle stem cells and shown that the cells could robustly replicate and repair damaged muscles when grafted onto an injured site. The laboratory finding paves the way for potential treatments for patients with severe muscle injury, paralysis or genetic diseases [...]

A research group at Stanford University, led by Helen M. Blau, Jason H. Pomerantz (pictured left), now an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UCSF, and Kostandin V. Pajcini, has, as reported by the NY Times, "taken a possible first step toward unlocking the human ability to regenerate. By inactivating two genes that work to suppress tumors, they got mouse muscle cells to revert to a younger state, start dividing and help repair tissue."