Group/Researcher: Dr P Zammit, Kings College London

Value of Grant: Year 2 - £59,817

The aim of this project is to investigate factors that affect the efficiency of satellite cells when regenerating muscles. This information is important for the development of therapies that might utilise satellite cells to treat muscular dystrophies.

Muscular dystrophies comprise 34 different disorders that are characterised by progressive muscle weakness and degeneration. Muscle is made of thousands of muscle fibres and is repaired by muscle stem cells - satellite cells - when injured or diseased. These stem cells not only produce large amounts of muscle but importantly, also renew themselves to maintain their own population.

Since the regenerative process mediated by satellite cells is gradually compromised in muscular dystrophies, understanding their function is key to understanding changes that occur in dystrophic muscle. Theoretically, the manipulation of satellite cells could enhance dystrophic muscle function, thus maintaining an environment that is still capable of responding to other therapies as well.

Dr Zammit aims to investigate the factors influencing the efficiency of muscle regeneration by satellite cells. Different mouse strains - a strain is a group of animals that have the same genetic make-up - have differing abilities to regenerate their muscle after damage. Dr Zammit will study the satellite cells from different strains of mice to determine whether the reason that their muscle regenerates with markedly different efficiencies is due to differing properties of their satellite cells. They will also study the effects of particular proteins such as Pax7 - this protein controls expression of certain genes - and those factors that control muscle development in embryos to see the effects these have on the satellite cells.

Knowing what factors influence satellite cell efficiency is crucial in order for researchers to be able to manipulate these cells to use in the therapy of muscular dystrophies.