Alec Smith has been awarded a University of Washington RRF grant for $40,000. The funded project is entitled “Using functional readouts from engineered models of innervated skeletal muscle to assess the efficacy of gene therapies targeting neuromuscular diseases”.
Royalty Research Fund Award to Alec Smith Read More »
NDRG investigators, led by Alec Smith, in collaboration with Curi Bio, have just published a study creating engineered neuromuscular junctions from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Our platform enables simultaneous measurement of neuromuscular junction function across 24 engineered tissues! We’re now working with industry leaders to use this system as a means to remove animal testing from the development of botox products that are widely used in both the medical and cosmetic fields.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666027X25000040?via%3Dihub#f0025
Engineered human neuromuscular junctions Read More »
NDRG PI Alec Smith is lead organizer for an ISCRM-sponsored workshop for postdocs interested in training on how to build supportive and inclusive lab environments for their future trainees.
Inclusive Leadership Workshop Read More »
Changho Chun is lead author of a paper that was just accepted for publication in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Human Motor Neurons Elicit Pathological Hallmarks of ALS and Reveal Potential Biomarkers of the Disease in Response to Prolonged IFNγ Exposure reveals that exposure of motor neurons to interferon-γ promotes cytoplasmic mis-localization of TDP-43 protein – a hallmark of ALS.
NDRG Team Publishes Paper about ALS Disease Mechanisms Read More »
Alec Smith is the PI of a newly awarded NIH R21 grant to study muscle spindle dysfunction in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. David Mack, Mike Regnier, and Mark Bothwell are co-investigators.
Muscle spindles are sensory end organs in muscle that allow sensation of muscle position and movement. As muscle spindles are comprised of clusters of specialized types of muscle fibers, their proper function is likely dependent on dystrophin, just as the muscle proper is. Dystrophin mutations in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy cause a loss of muscle cell dystrophin. Thus, it is plausible that DMD patients may experience muscle spindle dysfunction, which may contribute to the tendency of DMD patients to suffer frequent falls.
In order to develop an experimental system to study human muscle spindle function, Alec and team will produce muscle spindle cells in vitro, by differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells bearing a dystrophin mutation, and from wild type control cells.
Alec Smith and NDRG team awarded NIH R21 grant Read More »
A three-year $2.9 million grant from the Department of Defense Translational Research Program has been awarded to Jeffrey Chamberlain, Julie Crudele, and David Mack. The project will explore applying spit-intein technology to produce safer constructs for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy gene therapy.
DOD grant to team including NDRG PI David Mack Read More »
On Monday, August 14, Cecelia Watson successfully defended her Masters dissertation “Investigation of Neuregulin-1 Treatment in 3D engineered skeletal muscle toward Intrafusal Spindle Fiber Generation in vitro”.
On Tuesday, August 15, Saffie Mohran successfully defended his PhD dissertation “The modulation of myofibril function: How small molecules and sarcomeric mutations impact actomyosin interactions”.
Congratulations Cecelia and Saffie!
Advanced degrees awarded to members of the NDRG team Read More »
The Weil Neurohub has awarded a grant of $250,000 to Co-PIs Alec Smith and Claire Clelland, Assistant Professor, UCSF. The project, entitled
Using a stem-cell derived model of the human neuromuscular junction to test delivery and efficacy of CRISPR gene therapies for C9orf72 FTD/ALS was funded through the Next Great Ideas program.
Grant awarded to Alec Smith Read More »
The paper “Creating stem cell-derived neuromuscular junctions in vitro” published by NDRG investigators in Muscle and Nerve has been cited as among the journal’ frequently downloaded papers.
Highly popular NDRG publication in Muscle & Nerve Read More »
We are excited to share information about an upcoming Inclusive Leadership workshop presented by the UW Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.
The event, which will take place next April 24-25 in Seattle, is designed for PhD candidates and postdocs who are exploring academic career paths in regenerative medicine / engineering and related fields.
Applicants representing marginalized and historically excluded backgrounds are highly encouraged to apply. Financial aid is available for travel on a first-come, first-served basis.
More details about the event and how to apply can be found here. Please share this opportunity with anyone who you think might be interested.
Inclusive Leadership Workshop Read More »
Changho Chun produced this striking image of astrocytes differentiated in vitro from human induced pluripotent stem cells, which is featured in this year’s Art Neureau exhibit.
The art of science Read More »
