Targeting mitochondrial quality control to improve muscle stem cell function and tissue regeneration

Dysfunction of mitochondria, the cellular powerhouses, plays an important role in a plethora human disorders, including rare genetic myopathies such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Mitochondrial dysfunction also causes stem cell abnormalities in several tissues including skeletal muscle. For this reason, modulation of mitochondrial quality is increasingly proposed as a therapeutic strategy to prevent/restore cellular function. However, our ability to do so in muscle stem cells (MuSCs) is hampered by limited knowledge of pathways regulating mitochondrial quality.
The proposed work will contribute to define how mitophagy (a process degrading damaged mitochondria), is regulated in MuSCs, what pathways are involved, how it affects mitochondrial qualities and MuSC function, and whether mitophagy can be targeted to better maintain muscle regeneration capacity.

Faculty Supervisor:

Yan Burelle

Student:

Partner:

Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Ottawa

Program: