Andrew Brack, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
185 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02114
PH: 617-726-5092
Brack.Andrew@mgh.harvard.edu

Brack Lab

Our lab interests lie at the interface between adult stem cell biology and tissue regeneration. We focus on the molecular pathways that control cell fate decisions of the adult muscle stem cell (the satellite cell) to effectively regenerate adult skeletal muscle.

In uninjured muscle, the rare satellite cells are in a functionally dormant, quiescent state. Upon an injury stimulus, these cells proliferate and their progeny will either differentiate to form new muscle fibers or undergo self renewal to replenish the stem cell pool.

We believe that the temporally coordinated cell fate decisions of the stem cell and its progeny are reliant on the communication between the local environment (the muscle stem cell niche) and the stem cell itself. We are using cre/lox gene recombination and genetic knock in technology to deconstruct the communication between the niche and the muscle stem cell to investigate the cell fate decision making process during regeneration. In the future we hope this will lead to strategies that improve stem cell based therapies targeting aging and muscle disease.

Selected Publications

Brack, A.S., Conboy, I.M., Conboy, M.J., Shen, J, and Rando, T.A. (2008) A temporal switch from Notch to Wnt is necessary for normal adult myogenesis. Cell Stem Cell . 2, 50-59.

Brack, A.S and Rando, T.A. (2007) Intrinsic changes and extrinsic influences of myogenic stem cell function during aging. Stem Cell Rev. 3: 226-237.

Brack, A.S., Conboy, M.J., Roy, S., Lee, M., Kuo, C., Rando, T.A. (2007) Elevated Wnt signaling during aging alters the fate of myogenic stem cells leading to increased fibrosis and impaired regeneration. Science. 317: 807-810.

Brack, A.S., Bildsoe, H., Hughes, S.M. (2005) A satellite cell defect leads to a loss of myonuclei in murine age-related atrophy and is exacerbated in large muscle fibres. J.Cell Sci. 118: 4813-21.