Role of primary cilia in skeletal muscle stem cells and muscle regeneration

Primary cilia are cellular organelles present at the surface of many cell types in vertebrates. In recent years, they have been shown to play essential roles in relaying signalling information from the environment to the cell. The importance of primary cilia is underscored by the growing family of diseases associated with defects in cilia function, known as ciliopathies.

Our laboratory focuses on the study of tissue regeneration following injury and disease, and in aging. We are particularly interested in understanding how primary cilia control the activity of stem cells that reside within our skeletal muscle. We have previously established that primary cilia are key players in the regulation of cell signalling pathways and skeletal muscle stem cell biology. However, the precise mechanisms by which primary cilia control muscle regeneration remains to be elucidated.

This project will use the power of mouse genetic models allowing us to selectively eliminate primary cilia in skeletal muscle stem cells, combined with a well-established ex-vivo culture system of skeletal muscle fibres, imaging and genome-wide transcriptomics approaches to investigate the mechanism by which primary cilia control skeletal muscle stem cells, muscle regeneration, and aging.