Cell Biology
Pura Muñoz-Cánoves
Group website
Research Outline
Our research aims to understand the mechanisms regulating stem cell homeostasis and regenerative functions: how stem cells maintain quiescence, are activated, proliferate and differentiate, and finally self-renew, and how they interact with the external inflammatory environment. Research has been especially focused on stem cells of skeletal muscle. In particular, we want to shed light on 1) the age-associated muscle decline and wasting (sarcopenia) and loss of stem-cell regenerative functions with aging; and 2) the physiopathology of muscular dystrophies, with a specific interest in the contribution of inflammation and fibrosis to dystrophy progression. These studies are relevant to regenerative medicine.
Research Lines
- 1. Skeletal muscle regenerative decline with aging: causes and potential reversal
1.1. Analysis of autophagy in aging muscle stem cells and relationship with defective regeneration.
1.2. Analysis of signaling pathways driving aging of muscle stem cells.
1.3. Analysis of the impact of age-associated circadian alterations on stem cell functions.
- 2. Inflammation and fibrosis in muscle regeneration: implications for Duchenne muscular dystrophy progression
2.1. Genetic demonstration of the role of inflammation in regenerating and dystrophic muscle.
2. 2. Genetic tracing analysis to demonstrate the cellular origin of myofibroblasts (i.e. fibrosis) in fibrosis progression in dystrophic muscle.
Team during 2019-20
Master Students: Alejandra Rodríguez, Alejandro Cardona Monzonís, Miguel Gonzalez Martin
PhD students: Antonio Martínez García, Xiaotong Hong, Victoria Moiseeva, Mireia Vaca Dempere, Silvia Campanario, Álex Cuenca Cortés, Andrés Cisneros Fernández, Ignacio Ramírez, Mercedes Grima
Postdocs: Jessica Segalés, Laura Ortet, Joan Isern, Arun Kumar, William Roman, Valentina Sica, Konstantin Slobodnyuk
Technicians: Mercè Jardí, Vera Lukesova, Ana Maria Martin de Ana, Johanna Gerez, Aida Navarro, Eva Andrés Serna, Jose Maria Ballestero, Javier Bartolomé, Anikó Szegedi
Senior scientists: Antonio L. Serrano Sánchez, Eusebio Perdiguero Santamaria
Project manager: Marina Raya Chamorro
Bioinformatician: Oleg Deryagin
Selected publications
- García-Prat L, Perdiguero E, Alonso-Martín S, Dell’Orso S, Ravichandran K, Brooks SR, Juan AH, Campanario S, Jiang K, Hong X, Ortet L, Moiseeva V, Rebollo E, Sun H-W, Musarò A, Sandri M, del Sol A, Sartorelli V, Muñoz-Cánoves P. FoxO maintains a genuine muscle stem-cell quiescent state until geriatric age. Nature Cell Biology 22:1307, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41556-020-00593-7. Epub 2020 Oct 26. PMID: 33106654
- González-Hernández S, Gómez MJ, Sanchez-Cabo F, Méndez-Ferrer S, Muñoz-Cánoves P, Isern J. Sox17 Controls Emergence and Remodeling of Nestin-Expressing Coronary Vessels. Circulation Research 127:e252, 2020. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.120.317121 PMID: 32921258
- Segalés J, Perdiguero R, Serrano AL, Sousa-Victor P, Ortet L, Jardi M, Budanov A, Garcia-Prat L, Sandri M, David M. Thomson DM, Karin M, Lee JH, Muñoz-Cánoves P. Sestrin prevents atrophy of disused and aging muscles by integrating anabolic and catabolic signals. Nature Communications 11:189, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13832-9. PMID: 31929511
- Iavarone F, Guardiola O, Scagliola A, Andolfi GSerrano A, Perdiguero E, Brunelli S, Muñoz-Cánoves P, Minchiotti G. Cripto shapes macrophage plasticity and restricts EndMT in injured and diseased skeletal muscle. EMBO Reports. 21: e49075, 2020. doi: 10.15252/embr.201949075. Epub 2020 Feb 27. PMID: 32107853
- Perdiguero E, Moiseeva V, Muñoz-Cánoves P. Simultaneous Isolation of Stem and Niche Cells of Skeletal Muscle: Applicability for Aging Studies. Methods Mol Biol. 2045:13, 2019. DOI: 10.1007/7651_2019_210. PMID: 30771188
Other relevant information
- Editorial Boards, Editorial Activities
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Editorial Board of The FEBS Journal” (Special Features Editor) |
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Editorial Board and Founding Member of Skeletal Muscle (Biomed Central Journal) |
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Advisory Board Member of Oncotarget and Gerotarget: Section in Aging |
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Advisory Board Member of Journal of Immunology and Regenerative Medicine |
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Faculty Member F1000Prime: Musculoskeletal & Pharmacology Section |
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Elected Member of the European Federation for Systematic Stem Cell Biology (EuroStemCell) |
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Editorial Board of the Journal of Immunology and Regenerative Medicine |
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Member of the Scientific Council of Fundación GADEA por la Ciencia (GADEA Foundation for Science) |
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Editorial Board of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (Springer, Nature) |
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Member of “Consejo Consultivo en Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación de la Presidencia de la Generalitat Valenciana” |
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Evaluation Committee of Pasteur Institute (Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Department), Paris, France |
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Evaluation Committee of Institute NeuroMyogène, Lyon, France Editorial Advisory Board of Cell Stem Cell |
- Manager of Scientific Evaluating Panels (Study Sections)
- Organization of International Conferences
2020 EMBO Workshop on Developmental Circuits in Ageing, Crete, Greece
- Awards
- Lilly Award in Biomedical Research (2019)
- King Jaume I Award (Premio Rey Jaime I) in Medical Research (2019)
Skeletal muscle stem cells with greater regenerative capacity (RNAscope) (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-020-00593-7