New MDC1A paper published
Our new MDC1A paper has been published in the journal Skeletal Muscle. The title is: "Immortalized myogenic cells from Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Type1A patients recapitulate aberrant caspase activation in pathogenesis: A new tool for MDC1A research." and the authors are Soonsang Yoon, Guido Stadler, Mary Lou Beermann, Eric V. Schmidt, James A. Windelborn, Peter Schneiderat, Woodring E. Wright and Jeff. (Read the article)
New MDC1A paper submitted
With Dr. Soonsang Yoon as lead author, we've submitted a paper describing the immortalization of myogenic cells from human MDC1A patients and how these cells recapitulate aspects of pathology seen in muscle tissue. Co-authors with Dr. Yoon include Dr. Guido Stadler and Dr. Woody Wright (UT Southwestern), Dr. Peter Schneiderat (Univ. Munich), Dr. J. Windelborn (UMass Med), Mary Lou Beermann and Eric Schmidt (BU) and Jeff.
FSHD International Consortium
Jeff, Mary Lou Beermann, Sachiko Homma, and Soonsang Yoon attended this year's FSHD International Research Consortium Conference which was held at MIT this week. The ~100 attendees included academic scientists, biotech scientists, patient advocates, and representatives of funding agencies including the NIH, MDA, FSH Society, and FSH Global.
Jeff at MDA Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting
In Tucson, Jeff took part in the fall meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Muscular Dystrophy Association on Friday, October 18th, 2013.
Eric Schmidt presents at Undergraduate Research Symposium
Eric Schmidt presented a poster describing his work on culture of human myoblasts under low oxygen at BU's Undergraduate Research Symposium today.
New FSHD manuscript submitted
Takako I Jones, Peter L. Jones, and Charis Himeda (all of UMass Med) are lead authors, and we (Jeff, Mary Lou Beermann, and Sachiko Homma) are among the co-authors, on a manuscript about FSHD gene mechanisms that has just been submitted for review.
Gregg Miller ’15 joins group
Gregg Miller (Neuroscience '15) has joined our group as an undergraduate researcher.
New NIH grant funded
NIAMS has funded a new five year R01 with Dr. Peter Jones (UMass Med) as PI and Jeff as a collaborating researcher. The new funding will support studies of aberrant DUX4 expression and function in FSHD pathogenesis.
Dr. Yoon presents at ISSCR
At the International Society for Stem Cell Research conference in Boston, Dr. Soonsang Yoon presented her studies of pathological changes in immortalized myogenic stem cells obtained from MDC1A patients.
BU summer grant to Eric Schmidt ’15
The BU Undergraduate Opportunities Program (UROP) has awarded a stipend grant to Eric Schmidt (Biomedical Engineering '15) to support his work this summer in our group. Eric will begin on June 3rd.
Jeff gives Robert Wade Memorial Lecture at University of Maryland
Jeff was invited to present the Robert Wade Memorial Lecture in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The lecture was April 1 and, as part of the visiting lectureship, Jeff also taught a graduate class on April 2.
MDA and ISSCR abstracts submitted
We've submitted abstracts for two conferences. Sachiko Homma, Mary Lou Beermann, and Jeff wrote about DUX4-FL expression for the MDA Conference in April. Soonsang Yoon and Jeff, with co-authors Guido Stadler and Woody Wright, wrote about immortalizing human MDC1A myogenic cell lines for the ISSCR Stem Cell Conference in June.
We’ve moved to Boston University
We've moved to the Boston University School of Medicine as of January 28th, 2013. Jeff's new email address is millerjb@bu.edu. We're located on the fourth floor of the Center for Advanced Biomedical Research, 700 Albany Street, Boston MA 02118.
Moving to Boston University
We are moving our group to the Boston University School of Medicine with a target date of Feb. 1, 2013. At that time, Jeff will take up his new position as Professor of Neurology and Physiology.
Jeff at MDA Medical Advisory Committee
In Tucson, Jeff took part in the fall meeting of the Medicla Advisory Committee of the Muscular Dystrophy Association on Friday, October 19th, 2012.
HMG paper profiled in MDA Quest
Our recent HMG paper on DUX4-fl expression has been profiled in the Research Updates section of MDA Quest magazine (vol. 19, no. 4, pp 14-15 or http://quest.mda.org/news/dux4-protein-not-unique-fshd-affected-muscles).
Human Molecular Genetics Published Paper from Wellstone Group
Human Molecular Genetics has now published the paper from our Wellstone Group in which we examined DUX4-fl expression in FSHD and healthy individuals. (Abstract at PubMed)
Welcome, Dr. Soonsang Yoon!
We’ve welcomed Dr. Soonsang Yoon to our group. Dr. Yoon received her PhD at the University of Oxford and has previously worked on mechanisms of myogenesis with Dr. Emanuela Gussoni.
New NIH grant
Jeff is PI on a newly awarded, five year R01 grant from the NIH (NIAMS). This funding will support our work on congenital and limb-girdle dystrophies.
Published article in European Journal of Human Genetics
The European Journal of Human Genetics has now published the final version of our article: “A unique library of myogenic cells from facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy subjects and unaffected relatives: family, disease and cell function.” (2012 Apr;20(4):404-10. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2011.213. Epub 2011 Nov 23.)
Award from AFM
The Association Française contre les Myopathies (AFM) has made an award to Jeff and Peter Jones as co-PIs to support supply purchases for new FSHD research directions.
Wellstone group paper submission
The Wellstone group has submitted a paper describing analyses of DUX4 expression in cells and tissues from FSHD patients and their relatives. Authors from our group include Jeff, Sachiko Homma, and Mary Lou Beerman. Our BBRI colleague, Peter Jones, is the senior author of this manuscript.
Award from Muscular Dystrophy Association for CMD and LGMD studies
We’ve started work on the CMD and LGMD studies supported by a new award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (details).
FSHD International Consortium Meeting
Our entire lab group participated in the FSHD International Consortium Meeting. Our Wellstone Center was well represented with five platform talks and an additional four posters.
Published FSHD paper in European Journal of Human Genetics
The European Journal of Human Genetics has accepted and will soon publish our paper on the use of FSHD and normal myogenic cells to probe effects of disease and family origin on differentiation and gene expression. (Abstract from PubMed)