Emanuela Gussoni

Department of Genetics
Children's Hospital
320 Longwood Ave., Enders 5
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 919-2152
Fax: (617) 730-0253
Email: gussoni@enders.tch.harvard.edu

Web Page: The Gussoni Lab Page

The laboratory focuses on studying tissue-specific stem cells derived from human skeletal muscle. These cells are characterized for biological properties, in vivo interactions with one another, and for mechanisms of specification towards the myogenic lineage. Lastly, muscle stem cells are used in cell-based therapy models. We have interests in designing efficient ways to deliver unaffected cells to mouse models of muscular dystrophy, in particular Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Another important focus of the laboratory is to identify genes that are regulated during differentiation of human muscle cells, which results in formation of multinucleated myotubes via cell fusion. A better understanding of these processes may reveal important clues on designing successful cell-based therapy of muscle disorders.

References:

• Cerletti M, Molloy MJ, Tomczak KK, Yoon S, Ramoni MF, Kho AT, Beggs AH and Gussoni E. Melanoma Cell Adhesion Molecule is a novel marker for human fetal myogenic cells and affects myoblast fusion. J Cell Science 119: 3117-3127 (2006).
• Frank NY, Kho AT, Schatton T, Murphy GF, Molloy MJ, Zhan Q, Ramoni MF, Frank MH, Kohane IS and Gussoni E. Regulation of myogenic progenitor proliferation in human fetal skeletal muscle by BMP4 and its antagonist Gremlin. J Cell Biol. 175 (1): 99-110 (2006).
• Yoon S, Molloy MJ, Wu MP, Cowan DB and Gussoni E. C6ORF32 is upregulated during muscle cell differentiation and induces the formation of cellular filopodia. Dev. Biol. 301 (1):70-81 (2007).
• Sohn RL, Huang P, Kawahara G, Mitchell M, Guyon J, Kalluri R, Kunkel LM and Gussoni E. A role for nephrin, a renal protein, in vertebrate skeletal muscle cell fusion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jun 9;106(23):9274-9. Epub 2009 May 22. PMID: 19470472