The Muscle Growth and Repair Group is led by Professor Simon M Hughes.
The main aim of the Hughes group is to increase fundamental understanding of tissue assembly using striated muscle as a model system. We believe that a clear understanding of tissue formation in simple model systems may reveal general principles governing tissue growth and form throughout the animal world. The Muscle Growth and Repair Group investigates the cell biology of muscle tissue development in vivo and the patterning, growth and repair of skeletal and cardiac muscle using the latest molecular genetic techniques.
Overall, we are motivated to make fundamental scientific advances that have real-world applications in population health, medicine, sport, agriculture and aquaculture.
Current PhD students:
People
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Postdoctoral Research Associate
MRC Scientist and Professor of Developmental Cell Biology
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research Technician (postdoctoral)
Themes
Force sensing and growth of skeletal muscle
We want to understand how muscle activity, and particularly the physical force experienced by muscle during its contraction, influences muscle growth and maintenance. Loss or alteration of skeletal muscle is increasingly implicated in conditions such as age-related muscle weakening (sarcopenia), type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer cachexia, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and AIDS. It is therefore essential to understand how muscle mass and character are controlled. Exercise and nutrition are important environmental factors that interact with an individual's genetic make-up throughout the life course to maintain muscle, heart and whole-body health. By studying the basic molecular genetic mechanisms controlling muscle growth in a simple system, the transparent zebrafish, we hope to find fundamental mechanisms controlling muscle maintenance in all vertebrates, including people. Image: Single cells (green, visualized by injection of DNA encoding GFP) in a live transgenic zebrafish embryo with marked skeletal muscle (red).
Stem cell heterogeneity and maintenance of skeletal muscle
Our work has revealed distinct populations of muscle stem cells in the zebrafish that are involved in the formation and growth of several different kinds of muscle fibres. We use molecular genetics, advanced microscopy and embryological manipulations to elucidate how muscle stem cells are controlled. An important aspect of these studies is how muscle cells interact with skeletal, nervous, vascular and immune systems to build and maintain a healthy musculoskeletal tissue system. Image: Five-day zebrafish larva showing muscle (green, myosin), stem cells (red) and nuclei (blue)
Heart and skeletal muscle regeneration
Our extensive experience in skeletal muscle can provide insights into cardiac muscle growth, maintenance and regeneration. Too much or too little myocardial growth cause hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies, respectively. Lab members also study diseases, such as inherited muscular dystrophies or cardiomyopathies, to understand their causes and how they may be mitigated or cured. Currently, we primarily model human disease in the zebrafish but also use other model organisms such as Xenopus, chicken or mouse and, working in collaboration with other national and international teams, aim to apply our work in humans. Image: Live adult transgenic zebrafish with Green Fluorescent Protein in the muscle (green).
Chronobiology of muscle
We have shown that muscle grows more during the day than at night. This effect is independent of diurnal differences in exercise or feeding, but depends on the intrinsic circadian clock. Circadian rhythms are disrupted by jet-lag, shift work and in older people. Our aim now is to understand how circadian rhythms interact with other pathways controlling muscle biology and function, in the hope of improving human health and sporting performance. Image: Optical section of live zebrafish with muscle plasma membrane (cyan) and actin (magenta) illustrating muscle growth; hands are whole larvae.
Genes and environment in human sarcopenia
To elucidate how our findings from simple model systems relate to human muscle function, we are analysing data accumulating in the UK Biobank. This longitudinal study of human ageing and disease provides an unparalleled resource with which to understand how individual genetic variation in the genes we identify as muscle regulators interact with environmental variables to influence sarcopenia, type II diabetes and other muscle-related disease. Our long-term aim is to discover how early life experiences, socio-economic situation, exposure to pollution and lifestyle choices such as sleeping, exercise and eating habits control lifelong muscle health. Insight may provide a route to effective and economical personalized public health advice. Image: Genes and experience make for healthy muscle ageing.
Publications
Past group members
Past postdocs
- Elisabeth Ehler
- Lesley Robson
- Xiaopeng Li
- Stéphanie Bayol
- Richard Hampson
- Andrew Brack
- Marion Schuierer
- Chris Martin
- Chris Mann
- Jonathon Leslie
- Orli Yogev
- Fernanda Bajanca
- Yaniv Hinits
- Husam Hebaishi
- Giorgia Bergamin
- Roberta Da Costa Escaleira
- Seetaramaiah Attili
- Vladimir Snetkov
- Massimo Ganassi
Past PhD students
- Jonathon Blake
- Chris Blagden
- Sophie Chargé
- Julie Groves
- Christina Hammond
- Daniel Osborn
- James Minchin
- Jana Koth
- Shukolpa Roy
- Duvaraka Kulaveerasingam
- Mike Attwaters
- Abbi Hau
- Vikki Williams-Ward
People
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Postdoctoral Research Associate
MRC Scientist and Professor of Developmental Cell Biology
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research Technician (postdoctoral)
Themes
Force sensing and growth of skeletal muscle
We want to understand how muscle activity, and particularly the physical force experienced by muscle during its contraction, influences muscle growth and maintenance. Loss or alteration of skeletal muscle is increasingly implicated in conditions such as age-related muscle weakening (sarcopenia), type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer cachexia, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and AIDS. It is therefore essential to understand how muscle mass and character are controlled. Exercise and nutrition are important environmental factors that interact with an individual's genetic make-up throughout the life course to maintain muscle, heart and whole-body health. By studying the basic molecular genetic mechanisms controlling muscle growth in a simple system, the transparent zebrafish, we hope to find fundamental mechanisms controlling muscle maintenance in all vertebrates, including people. Image: Single cells (green, visualized by injection of DNA encoding GFP) in a live transgenic zebrafish embryo with marked skeletal muscle (red).
Stem cell heterogeneity and maintenance of skeletal muscle
Our work has revealed distinct populations of muscle stem cells in the zebrafish that are involved in the formation and growth of several different kinds of muscle fibres. We use molecular genetics, advanced microscopy and embryological manipulations to elucidate how muscle stem cells are controlled. An important aspect of these studies is how muscle cells interact with skeletal, nervous, vascular and immune systems to build and maintain a healthy musculoskeletal tissue system. Image: Five-day zebrafish larva showing muscle (green, myosin), stem cells (red) and nuclei (blue)
Heart and skeletal muscle regeneration
Our extensive experience in skeletal muscle can provide insights into cardiac muscle growth, maintenance and regeneration. Too much or too little myocardial growth cause hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies, respectively. Lab members also study diseases, such as inherited muscular dystrophies or cardiomyopathies, to understand their causes and how they may be mitigated or cured. Currently, we primarily model human disease in the zebrafish but also use other model organisms such as Xenopus, chicken or mouse and, working in collaboration with other national and international teams, aim to apply our work in humans. Image: Live adult transgenic zebrafish with Green Fluorescent Protein in the muscle (green).
Chronobiology of muscle
We have shown that muscle grows more during the day than at night. This effect is independent of diurnal differences in exercise or feeding, but depends on the intrinsic circadian clock. Circadian rhythms are disrupted by jet-lag, shift work and in older people. Our aim now is to understand how circadian rhythms interact with other pathways controlling muscle biology and function, in the hope of improving human health and sporting performance. Image: Optical section of live zebrafish with muscle plasma membrane (cyan) and actin (magenta) illustrating muscle growth; hands are whole larvae.
Genes and environment in human sarcopenia
To elucidate how our findings from simple model systems relate to human muscle function, we are analysing data accumulating in the UK Biobank. This longitudinal study of human ageing and disease provides an unparalleled resource with which to understand how individual genetic variation in the genes we identify as muscle regulators interact with environmental variables to influence sarcopenia, type II diabetes and other muscle-related disease. Our long-term aim is to discover how early life experiences, socio-economic situation, exposure to pollution and lifestyle choices such as sleeping, exercise and eating habits control lifelong muscle health. Insight may provide a route to effective and economical personalized public health advice. Image: Genes and experience make for healthy muscle ageing.
Publications
Past group members
Past postdocs
- Elisabeth Ehler
- Lesley Robson
- Xiaopeng Li
- Stéphanie Bayol
- Richard Hampson
- Andrew Brack
- Marion Schuierer
- Chris Martin
- Chris Mann
- Jonathon Leslie
- Orli Yogev
- Fernanda Bajanca
- Yaniv Hinits
- Husam Hebaishi
- Giorgia Bergamin
- Roberta Da Costa Escaleira
- Seetaramaiah Attili
- Vladimir Snetkov
- Massimo Ganassi
Past PhD students
- Jonathon Blake
- Chris Blagden
- Sophie Chargé
- Julie Groves
- Christina Hammond
- Daniel Osborn
- James Minchin
- Jana Koth
- Shukolpa Roy
- Duvaraka Kulaveerasingam
- Mike Attwaters
- Abbi Hau
- Vikki Williams-Ward
Our Partners
Group lead
MRC Scientist and Professor of Developmental Cell Biology