ESR7
Dynamic changes in transcription and epigenetic profile of fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) in healthy and dystrophic muscles, and modulation by epigenetic drugs (HDACi).
I received my BSc and MSc degrees from University of Crete in Greece, where I specialized in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine.
During my studies, I have developed a great interest for developmental biology which has leaded me to explore different flavours of this field; from hematopoietic stem cell differentiation in my BSc thesis and embryonic stem cell studies during my Erasmus internship in Milan to Drosophila gut development in my MSc thesis.
My latest project as a short-term Marie Curie fellow of the EvoCELL network in France was about regeneration studies in a crustacean species, Parhyale hawaiensis. There I got attracted by Regenerative Biology, a fact that leaded me to be part in RENOIR network.
During my PhD project I will study the dynamic changes in transcription and epigenetic profile of fibro-adipogenic progenitors in healthy and dystrophic muscles, aiming to elucidate their response to treatment with epigenetic drugs.
Fondazione Santa Lucia
Italy
Partner Profile
Fondazione Santa Lucia (FSL)
Fondazione Santa Lucia is a research institute associated with an internal clinic dedicated to patients with neuromuscular disorders. As such, there is a strong focus on research on neuromuscular disorders.
The Clinical Institute has an outstanding rehabilitation service. The research Institute is endowed with state-of-the-art services, including animal facility, FACS facility, and laboratories specialized in molecular biology and epigenetics to provide the optimal environment for pre-clinical studies and the investigations of muscle-derived cell types of interest. Funding is provided by national and international agencies, and includes the Epigen platform for next-generation sequencing.
ESR will be enrolled in PhD programmes from Universities of Milano Bicocca (www.dimet.org)
Website
Topic
Muscle homeostasis relies on a population of muscle stem cells, the satellite cells (SCs), which support post-natal growth and are mainly responsible for skeletal muscle repair. It is well known that in addition to the canonical muscle stem cells, different cell types can in part influence either negatively or positively skeletal muscle homeostasis, including the macrophages, the resident fibro/adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) expressing platelet-derived growth-factor receptor (PDGFR)-α and the PW1/Peg3 positive interstitial cells (myoPiCS).
We will focus on the non-satellite cell progenitors myoPICs, which display pronounced myogenic potential but cannot compensate for the lack of SCs. To further characterize these cells and discriminate myoPICs from other sub-populations, including PW1+/PDGFRα+ FAPs, ESR7 will use single cell transcriptomic analysis of FAPs isolated from WT and mdx mice (model of human DMD) as well as from DMD patients, exposed or not to HDACi, to isolate potential subpopulations of FAPs and define their gene expression profiles.
Objectives
To characterise the transcriptome profiling and the epigenetic landscape in FAPs isolated from mdx mice, at different stages of disease progression and in response to treatment with HDAC inhibitors – a pharmacological intervention currently in clinical trial with DMD boys
- To identify distinct subpopulations of FAPs in muscles of mdx mice at different stages of disease progression and in response to treatment with HDAC inhibitors
To validate data generated in points 1 and 2 in FAPs isolated from muscles of DMD patients
PHD Program
Ph.D. Programme in Translational and Molecular Medicine (DIMET),
University of Milano Bicocca.
Supervisor
Lucia Latella
Fondazione Santa Lucia, Epigenetics and Regenerative Pharmacology Lab
RENOIR
ESR
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