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Lab-grown stem cells into muscle progenitor cells (green) and growing muscle fibers (red)
Courtney Young (center) with UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center members — and MyoGene Bio cofounders — Melissa Spencer and April Pyle.
These microscopic images show gene expression in muscle stem and progenitor cells as they mature from early development to adulthood (left to right). As part of this process, the cells switch from actively expressing one key gene (green) to another (violet); this is accompanied by the growth of muscle fibers (red).
UCLA professors Huan Meng, Melissa Spencer and April Pyle pictured in a lab.
Skeletal muscle cells isolated using the ERBB3 and NGFR surface markers (right) restore human dystrophin (green) after transplantation significantly greater than previous methods (left).
The new protocol turned 90 percent of human pluripotent stem cells into somite cells in just four days; those somite cells then generated (left to right) cartilage, bone and muscle cells.
Nanoparticles (green) injected intravenously into mice are capable of entering muscle (outlined in grey) from blood vessels (red).
From left: April Pyle, Courtney Young and Melissa Spencer