Muscle stem cells
The Gussoni laboratory studies muscle stem cells in human and mouse tissues, with the translational goal of developing cell-based strategies to enhance regeneration or slow the progression of muscular dystrophy.
A primary lab focus is to understand the function of tetraspanin CD82 in muscle stem cells. We found that CD82 is an excellent prospective marker for myogenic cells and it likely regulates muscle stem cells activation through binding with alpha 7 integrin.We are currently focused on determining the role of CD82 in normal and dystrophic muscle and whether loss or overexpression of CD82 can modify the progression of muscle pathology in dystrophic mice.