Project Details
Projekt
The role of intrinsic and extrinsic factors mediating age-related impairment of skeletal stem cells
Applicant
Dr. Thomas Ambrosi, Ph.D.
Subject Area
Cell Biology
Term
from 2018 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 399915929
Impaired function and regenerative capacity of many tissues such as bone and skeletal muscle are characteristic hallmarks of aging. The growing number of elderly people has exacerbated the prevalence of osteoporosis and related complications, leading to significant decline in quality of life. This underlines the necessity to study the underlying mechanisms that promote the deterioration of the skeleton. Skeletal stem cells are crucial for homeostatic maintenance and regeneration of bone, suggesting that a reduced ability of these cells to facilitate reparative actions might underlie age-related impairments. Therefore, the current proposal seeks to clarify the mechanistic processes that reduce the ability of local stem cells to support bone regeneration during senescence. The main objectives are to investigate the reason for a deteriorated stem cell function in aged mammals and to identify factors to re-establish their youthful state. Proper stem cell activity can be confounded by cell-intrinsic and external cell-extrinsic factors. Identifying the mode of action leading to the elucidation of involved pathways would allow a targeted approach for reversing the aging-induced interferences with stem cell function. The study will use an array of promising in vitro and in vivo approaches to delineate putative causes and consequences of inherently shifted properties of skeletal stem cell populations and search for circulating factors stimulating or preventing a juvenile state. As such, the proposed investigations in the current work are particularly novel, and could lay the foundation for new approaches for the treatment of skeletal disease.
DFG Programme
Research Fellowships
International Connection
USA
