Fabrisia Ambrosio, Ph.D., MPT
Junior Faculty
ambrosiof@upmc.edu

The Growth and Development Laboratory is investigating the development of biological therapies, including the administration of anti-fibrosis agents after injury and muscle-derived stem cell transplantation in dystrophic muscles, to improve muscle regeneration. Dr. Ambrosio’s research involves translating these murine models for improving muscle repair after injury into pre-clinical and clinical trials. Dr. Ambrosio also has interests in the effect of mobility devices used on muscle strength, fatigue and quality of life in persons with multiple sclerosis.

Appointments:
Instructor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the School of Medicine

Funding:
Research Supplement for Underrepresented Minorities -Parent Grant: “Muscle Regeneration Through Stem Cell Transplantation” (2005 - Present)
University of Pittsburgh - NSF-IGERT Graduate Research Fellowship 2004-2005; 2003-2004

Bahar Ahani

Bahar is a bioengineering student at the University of Pittsburgh. She has joined SCRC April 2009. She has been been working on characterizing the role of wild type MDSCs in progeroid ERCC1-XPF-deficient mice under the mentorship of Dr. Mitra Lavasani.

Dr. Barry is a Post-doctoral Associate in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. She recived her undergraduate degree and MSc in Biocehmistry at Queen’s University under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Mueller, and her PhD at the University of Toronto in the Department of BioPhysics with Dr. Andre Schuh. Dr. Barry has over a decade of experience in cell culture, molecular biology, and animal work, and has primarily spent the past three years being trained for and setting up a stem cell research program at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Barry's research predominantly focuses on better understanding concomitant signal-induced transformation of postnatal stem cells, and translating this research from a murine to a human model. Dr. Barry is also involved in elucidating the involvement of the host's immune system in the transformation of somatic stem cells.

Appointments:
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

Dr. Chen's research is focused upon the identification and characterization of potential stem/progenitor cell populations in the heart.

Mr. Cummins has been with Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for the past twenty-one years. Beginning in the Department of Medical Genetics as a Cytogenetics Technologist, Mr. Cummins successfully rose to the position of Laboratory Manager there before accepting the same position and title with Dr. Huard in the Growth and Development Laboratory in 1999. After 6 productive years as Laboratory Manager, he accepted a promotion to the position of Manager of Research in January of 2006. Mr. Cummins now serves as the Senior Scientist for the Stem Cell Research Center (SCRC).

Mr. Cummins has a firm understanding of the ongoing science being performed in the laboratory, and currently acts as the lead research scientist in the SCRC. His scientific background and knowledge, combined with his keen understanding of institutional policy, make him a uniquely valuable asset to the aims and to the people of the SCRC.

Mr. Ferrari, from Sao Paulo Brazil, is a visiting scholar with an MS in Physical Therapy. He is working in the Translational Research and Rehabilitation Core at the Stem Cell Research Center, and is focusing on a project to investigate the effects of different kinds of exercise following MDSC implantation therapy. From this work he hopes to find methods to improve the efficacy of MDSC implantation therapy for myopathies.

Xueqin Gao, M.D., Ph.D,

Postdoctoral  Associate

XUG1@pitt.edu

Dr. Gao's Interests

Research Interest:   My research is to focus on the human muscle derived stem cells based bone and cartilage healing and the interaction of the donor stem cell and host cell. Based on the pioneer study in our lab, most healing bone tissue cells are derived from host cells, but donor cells play important role.  So, I am interested mostly in characterizing the paracrine factors of different populations  of   human muscle derived stem cells in vitro. And then I will test the healing effect of the muscle stem cell with different subpopulation isolated from human muscle derived stem cell.  I am going to investigate on the contribution of the different host cells such as inflammatory cells, immune cells, and mesenchyme cells and other cells in the stem cell based bone and cartilage healing.  This lay foundation for the translational research of muscle derived stem cell therapy.

In our lab, muscle derived stem cells (MDSCs) are isolated from the skeletal muscles of the mouse by a modification of the preplate technique. We have several projects that involve using these stem cells to regenerate and repair injured skeletal muscles in Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse model (MDX mouse), cardiac muscle, and bone marrow. Donor cells are either engineered with reporter genes before they are injected, or they are injected without engineering. My research interest is how to best track non-engineered (normal) adult stem cells in recipient tissues, see if they proliferate, and check if they develop any chromosomal abnormalities, or if they fuse with host nuclei.

Johnny Huard, Ph.D.
SCRC Director
412.648.2789

Dr. Huard became the Director of the Growth and Development Laboratory in 1996. Since that time, the laboratory has more than tripled in size with more than 50 diverse professionals (including basic scientists, residents, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and administrative staff).

Dr. Huard’s main research focus is gene therapy to skeletal muscle, and he has received international recognition for his research discoveries in this area. He started to concentrate his efforts on gene therapy at the Masters level of his schooling, completing both his masters and doctoral graduate studies. He also serves within the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine as the Deputy Director for Cellular Therapeutics, at the Center for Cell Therapeutics as director, as Associate Director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative.

For more information visit our History page.

Dr. Lavasani is a research assistant professor at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology at San Jose State University and her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Dr. Johnny Huard. At the SCRC, her multidisciplinary research explores the use of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) transplantation to enhance axonal/glial regeneration and provide functional recovery to peripheral nervous system (PNS) injuries in murine experimental models. Her proposed stem cell-based therapy concept is based upon the ability of transplanted stem cells to transform into specific tissue cell types or to participate in the recovery process by reducing axonal degeneration and scar formation, while promoting myelination. Her models evaluate th potential for MDSCs to adopt a Schwann cell (PNS supporting cell) phenotype in vitro and in vivo, and examine their plasticity in response to environmental cues to support nerve fiber regeneration and re-myelination.

Dr. Lavasani is also working on characterizing the role of aging using murine experimental models of genetically engineered mice with dramatically shortened lifespan with age-related pathologies. Her goal is to use wild type MDSCs-transplantation to delay or ameliorate the pathologies associated with aging using the mouse models of progeroid ERCC1-XPF-deficient mice.

She has won multiple awards, including the New Investigator Recognition Award (NIRA) at 53rd Annual ORS Meeting (2007); first place in the Scientific Retreat Poster Contest for Cellular Therapies at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (2007); Chancellor's Outstanding Student, University of Pittsburgh (2006); New Investigator Recognition Award (NIRA) Candidate at the 51st Annual ORS Meeting (2005); and Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards, University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering Department (2005).

Hongshuai Li  MD, PhD

hongshuai@gmail.com

Dr. Li is an Orthopaedics Post-doc Research Fellow working in the Stem Cell Research Center performing basic and translational research in the area of bone and cartilage regeneration.  His major area of study in the lab, currently, is the use of Muscle derived stem cell (MDSC) and platelet rich plasma (PRP) to improve the healing of bone and cartilage.  He will be involved with creating bone and cartilage related animal models. He will also be involved with cell preparation, evaluation of different fractions of cells obtained from mouse skeletal muscle to identify the cell population with the greatest chondrogenic or osteogenic potential, tissue processing, data acquisition, and data analysis. All the knowledge and techniques gained from his work with animals will be applied to his future research with human skeletal cells.

Dr. Yong Li is an Assistant Professor with tenure stream at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He also has other appointments within the University of Pittsburgh's department of Pathology and Bioengineering. Dr. Li's research has explored the properties of dedifferentiation from terminally differentiated states into adult stem cells. He has also studied the processes involved with fibrous scar formation in the injured and diseased tissues of the neuromuscular system. He has demonstrated that some growth factors were able to promote dedifferentiation of myocytes in cultured cells or in injured skeletal muscle of mammals. He is now investigating a potential relationship between fibrosis formation and dedifferentiation processes in injured and diseased tissues including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a devastating X-linked muscle disorder characterized by progressive muscle weakness. His work has been published in over 46 scientific journals. His team is well funded by NIH, DOD and other grants.

Dr. Li currently is the director of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology (LMP) in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and holds joint appointments in the Departments of Pathology and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh. The laboratory is also interested in translational studies and the clinical applications for musculoskeletal congenital diseases and traumatically injured tissues (www.pitt.edu/~yongli).

Paul Loedding
Research Administrator
412.648.3014
paul.loedding@chp.edu

Mr. Loedding joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in September 2007. Prior to September 2007, he worked in Children’s Hospital’s Research Finance Department as their Financial Analyst monitoring and ensuring various research departments project expenses.

Now working as Orthopaedic Surgery’s Research Administrator, Paul will be responsible to monitor and analyze all Orthopaedic Surgery grant expenses, produce and finalize all grant Closeout Reports, and efficiently produce analyses and financial data reporting as assigned by the Department Grant Manager.

Mr. Loedding holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Robert Morris University.

Dr. Lu is responsible for the isolation, identification and characterization of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs). The researchers at the SCRC have already tried to isolate MDSCs by modifying a method called the preplate technique to obtain clonal colonies from mice of different ages and gender. Recently we have identified and isolated MDSC clones having different, unique characteristics.

My main project entails theregeneration of functional muscle by MDSC transplantation. It has been demonstrated that the use of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) can circumvent hurdles facing myoblast transfer therapy, consequently improve the efficiency of muscle regeneration and dystrophin delivery to dystrophic muscle. We have transplanted MDSCs into the gastrocnemius muscle of younger MDX mice in an attempt to improve muscle force. Furthermore, we are using NGF stimulated and NGF transduced MDSCs since we have recently observed that ex vivo NGF-stimulated MDSCs can significantly promote muscle regeneration upon injection. These studies are still underway.

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Bioengineering and I joined the SCRC in May 2006. I work in the Bone and Cartilage Group, but specifically my research focuses on animal models of cellular therapies for bone repair. I have interests in sex-related differences in animal models, as well as models of long bone nonunions. I was awarded a New Investigator Poster Award at the 2nd Annual Meeting of Organization for the Study of Sex Differences, 2008 for work titled "Effect of Host Animal Sex on Ectopic Bone Formation by MDSCs". Additionally, my project titled "Model of Non-Union Repaid by Muscle-Derived Stem Cells" is currently funded for $5000 by The Albert B. Ferguson, Jr. M.D. Orthopaedic Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation.

B.S. in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky 2004
Ph.D. Candidate in Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh 2005-present

Xiadong Mu, Ph.D.
Researcher
412.648.3326
xiaodong_m@yahoo.com

My research is related with skeletal muscle regeneration and the administration of muscle derived stem cells for regenerative medicine. I have been studying whether multipotent stem cells can be induced by dedifferentiation/reprogramming of differentiated myoblasts or skin cells and whether the induced stem cells can contribute to skeletal muscle regeneration in mammals. I am also investigating the mechanisms of various protein factors in influencing the effect of myoblast/stem cell transplantation and preventing fibrosis formation in injured or diseased skeletal muscle. The main factors I am studying in my projects include: TGF-βs, Msx-1, Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs), and the insulin-like hormone relaxin.

I got my master's degree from Beijing University (China) and Ph.D. degree from University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Nicholas Oyster, B.S.

nmo3@pitt.edu

412-648-3311

Education:

Undergraduate: University of Rochester, 1999-2004

Biomedical Engineering

Graduate: University of Pittsburgh, 2008-present

Bioengineering master’s student

Research:

My early research focused on the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and its regulation by AMP-activated kinase (AMPK).  However, my interests returned to biomedical research, specifically, tissue engineering thus I joined the Plastic Surgery Research Lab in 2008. There, I studied the use of adipose-tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) in tissue repair and regeneration. I joined the Stem Cell Research Center in November 2010 to begin my work studying muscle-derived stem cells. My research here focuses on the use of stem cells for tissue repair and/or regeneration. I am currently studying the effects stem cell therapy has on muscle repair following muscle injury, specifically, injuries due to the compression of tissue during compartment syndrome.  Another study I am working on is characterizing platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and determining what effects PRP has on stem cell proliferation and differentiation. PRP offers an exciting possibility of using autologous growth factors to treat disease and repair tissue damage.

Haiying Pan
Senior Research Technician

Ms. Haiying Pan is a senior research technician within the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology (LMP). She is an expert in cell isolation and identifications. She also has experience with immune staining such as immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and western blot.

Minakshi Poddar, M.A., M.Sc.
412-624-6962
mip45@pitt.edu

Dr. Pollet directs the Bone and Cartilage Injuries Lab and the Stem Cell Ecology and Cancer Lab.

Appointments:
Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

Jonathan Proto

Graduate Student

Dr. Sekiya is a visiting Japanese Research Fellow from Osaka, Japan. He has many integrations within the group involving his surgical specialty on animal models. And he currently focuses on sheet shaped muscle-derived stem cell transplantation for infarct heart.

Minjung Song, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

minjung@pitt.edu

Dr. Song's research interests

Dr. Song is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. She received her undergraduate degree and MS in Biotechnology at Yonsei University, and her PhD at the Rutgers University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering with Dr. Kathryn Uhrich. She has an experience in cell culture, molecular biology, proteomics and tissue engineering. Dr. Song was trained as a postdoctoral fellow for 2.5 years at NIH with Dr. Donald Orlic and Dr. Richard Cannon.

Dr. Song’s research mainly focused on preventing or delaying pathologlical phenotypes of accelerated aging mouse by MDSC transplantation. Dr. Song is also working on comparing MDSC characteristics from accelerated aging mice (Zmpste24-/-) and normal mice to understand how accelerated aging affect stem cell property. Dr. Song is also involved in investigating the role of age on the regeneration capacity of human myogenic-endogenic cells and pericytes in skeletal muscle of SCID/mdx mice. In addition, she has interest in looking at mitochondrial dysfunction of MDSC from accelerated aging mice.

Mrs. Ying Tang is a Technician at the Division of Molecular Therapeutics, SCRC and is responsible for the daily research activities of many different lab projects which are focused around vector creation for gene therapy uses. For more information, please check the page of Dr. Bing Wang.

Ms. Tebbets is a Senior Technician in the SCRC, and is involved in many different lab projects. She is also the lab's safety representative, and contributes tremendously to the daily running of the laboratory.

Seth Thompson

Research Technician

412.648.3069

Sdt20@pitt.edu

Dr. Usas's research is focused on bone and cartilage tissue engineering using adult skeletal muscle-derived stem cells, various growth factors, viral vectors, and different scaffolds. He is highly skilled in animal surgery, and also directs the microCT laboratory, which is equipped with a vivaCT40 from Scanco. Currently, Dr. Usas is leading a muscle healing study sponsored by Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.

Joe Vella
Graduate Student Researcher
412.648.2604
joebvella@gmail.com

I am currently in my 4th year as an MD/PhD student and second year in the SCRC. Prior to joining the SCRC, I studied the nano-scale and interfacial mechanics of nano-structured materials by earning my masters in Materials Science from Johns Hopkins University and working as a research engineer at Motorola Semiconductor. While I remain interested in materials and their mechanical properties, which I hope to integrate into my current research in the form of biomaterials, two years of medical school has opened up a new area of interest in tissue engineering and stem cell therapies.

Myogenic stem cell engraftment in skeletal muscle for the purposes of healing and regeneration is a technique as full of promise as unanswered questions. Currently, I am interested in the oxidative and inflammatory stress tolerance of muscle derived cells and whether this tolerance has a large effect on engraftment. By sorting cells based on their production of anti-oxidant enzyme activity, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), can we isolate a novel stem cell phenotype? Will this phenotype yield higher rates of engraftment? Our data and the related literature suggest that stress resistance is indeed a very important phenotypic behavior of stem cells however how this behavior can be best utilized for stem cell therapies remains an open question.

In past years, Dr. Wang has been engaged in projects that concentrated on gene therapy for neuromuscular disorders, specifically Duchenne and Limb Girdle muscular dystrophies, using AAV viral vectors as gene vehicles. He directs the Molecular Therapeutics Lab.

Michelle Witt, MS

Chief Research Technician
412-648-3311

mrw41@pitt.edu

Education:

MS, Life Science, Virginia Polytechnic University, 2004

BS, University of Delaware, 2001

Research Projects:

I am the Chief Research Technician for the Stem Cell Research Center, and I work and collaborate on a variety of projects within the lab. I started with the center in 2007, focusing on the potential applications of stem cells into injured rat tendon.

I am currently am involved in the muscular dystrophy project funded by the department of defense.  This project focuses on testing the regeneration capacities of different types of human stem cells in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy.  I also work with Platelet Rich Plasma (PrP) and find the potential interactions between blood and stem cells exciting and clinically applicable.  I also aid in other projects such as the compartment syndrome, mainly focusing on muscle and cardiac projects.  I provide support for the lab in the areas of cell culture, cell characterization (flow cytometry), and PCR, qPCR and protein applications.

Dr. Wright is an orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) who specializes in sports medicine and cartilage repair. Dr. Wright sees patients in the clinic at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine, and performs surgery at UPMC Shadyside and UPMC South Side. One of few women in the field of orthopaedic surgery, she is assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

One of Dr. Wright’s main research interests has focused on aging athletes. She was the research coordinator for the 2005 Summer National Senior Games – The Senior Olympics, held in Pittsburgh. Since 2003, Dr. Wright has been looking at health research data related to Senior Olympians, with the hypothesis that athletes over age 40 who maintain high levels of functional capacity and quality of life throughout their life spans may be the best model of healthy aging, free from the variable of disuse. Such research findings may assist physicians in caring for seniors more effectively.

Dr. Wright’s research has been rewarded in the form of grants, numerous awards, peer-reviewed publications and international and national presentations. Her other research interests include muscle and tendon aging, gene therapy for the enhancement of bone healing, and osteoporosis in men.

She first came to Pitt in 1999 as an orthopaedic surgery resident. She had completed a research fellowship in Pitt’s Musculoskeletal Growth & Development Lab under the direction of Johnny Huard, Ph.D., and was one of only 10 residents to participate in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Clinician Scientist Development Program. Following the 2005 Summer Games, Dr. Wright completed a one-year Sports Medicine and Upper Extremity Fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Ill.; her master’s degree in oncology nursing from Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, and her medical degree from thePritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Mr. Qing Yang is a PhD student working with Dr. Bing Wang's Molecular Therapeutics Laboratory.