Wanling Xuan
University of South Florida, FL·Physiology
As people age, their skeletal muscles shrink and weaken, a condition called sarcopenia that reduces strength, mobility and quality of life. Part of the cause appears to be the decline of satellite cells, the muscle's own stem cells that repair it after injury.
- Fields
Physiology
Biomedical Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
sarcopenia
muscle aging
skeletal muscle regeneration
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Test whether muscle progenitor cells made from human iPSCs with givinostat, a histone deacetylase–blocking drug, are effective and safe for regenerating aged muscle in an animal model of sarcopenia.
- Test whether speeding the mobilization and engraftment of these induced muscle progenitor cells into the aged muscle environment stimulates muscle regeneration.
- Test whether extracellular vesicles from givinostat-induced progenitors, carrying proteins, mRNAs and muscle-promoting microRNAs, rejuvenate aged muscle and enhance regeneration.
More about the research
One possible replacement is induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), adult cells reprogrammed into a stem-cell state that can become muscle cells and blood vessels.
Why it matters
Older adults with sarcopenia lose muscle strength and mobility as their muscle stem cells fail. This work could lead to cell-based treatments using iPSC-derived muscle progenitors made without viruses. If the vesicles these cells release prove to carry much of the benefit, they could support therapies that trigger the body's own muscle repair without transplanting cells.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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.
Deneen M Wellik
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Biology
Trace what Hoxa11-expressing muscle interstitial cells become in living mice, using Hoxa11-CreERT2 lineage labeling (a genetic switch that permanently marks these cells) after muscle injury and during induced muscle hypertrophy (growth).
Addolorata Pisconti
Stony Brook University, NY·Biology
Define how the muscle stem cell niche, including its cells, extracellular matrix and soluble factors, is remodeled after injury in mice lacking each neutrophil serine protease or all three combined.
The school
University of South Florida: 20 labs on PI Pages, $522M a year on research, 305 research doctorates a year.
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