Clarissa Henry
University of Maine, ME·Biology
Moving the body depends on muscle linking up at two kinds of junction. At the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), nerve signals tell muscle to contract.
- Fields
Biology
Genetics
Neuroscience
- Topics
zebrafish
neuromuscular junction
myotendinous junction
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Aug 2030
What they work on
- Determine motor neuron- and muscle-specific roles for Dol-P-Man, a sugar building block made with the help of Dpm3, and dystroglycan (DG) at the neuromuscular junction, using cell-type-specific zebrafish genetic models.
- Test how Dol-P-Man and DG act separately and together to support cell-matrix adhesion during myotendinous junction development and muscle growth, comparing dpm3 mutant and dpm3;dg double-mutant zebrafish.
- Use quantitative imaging to measure how neuromuscular and myotendinous junctions are coordinated during development and maintenance in normal and diseased zebrafish.
- Support early-career-led projects on how extracellular cues regulate cell behavior, spanning viral infection, yeast gradient tracking and muscle regeneration, through shared live-imaging and zebrafish facilities.
More about the research
At the myotendinous junction (MTJ), muscle passes that force through tendon to the skeleton. When either junction fails, people can develop incurable degenerative diseases that shorten life. Both junctions attach to the extracellular matrix (ECM), the protein scaffold outside cells, through adhesion complexes. The work uses zebrafish to study how these attachments form and are maintained. It also leads a statewide center on how cells respond to signals from their surroundings.
Why it matters
Dystroglycanopathies are multisystem disorders that can cause severe, often fatal neuromuscular degeneration and currently have no cure. Learning how different tissues contribute to degeneration, and how early development affects disease progression, could point to future therapeutic targets. The center's broader projects may also inform treatment of infectious diseases, neuromuscular disorders and muscle aging and regeneration.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Osvaldo Delbono
Wake Forest University, NC·Neuroscience
Define how brainstem A5 sympathetic neurons projecting to hindlimb muscles affect motor denervation, neuromuscular junction signaling and muscle mass and strength with aging, using optogenetics and retrograde labeling in living mice.
Robert Carrillo
University of Chicago, IL·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test how combinations of Dpr and DIP cell surface proteins tell Drosophila motor neurons which muscles to connect to, using single-cell genetic changes in motor neurons that express six DIPs.
Rita Perlingeiro
University of Minnesota, MN·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how the host muscle environment affects engraftment of PSC-derived myogenic progenitors in an immune-deficient FKRP mutant mouse model of dystroglycanopathy.
The school
University of Maine: 10 labs on PI Pages, $199M a year on research, 81 research doctorates a year.
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