Publications by authors named "D Sirabella"

Primary fibroblasts are a precious resource in the field of translational regenerative medicine. Dermal fibroblasts derived from human subject biopsies are being used as donor tissues for the derivation of patient-specific iPSC lines, which in turn are used for disease modeling, drug screening, tissue engineering, and cell transplantation. We developed a fast and simple protocol to grow dermal fibroblasts from skin biopsies.

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In 2002 we published an article describing a population of vessel-associated progenitors that we termed mesoangioblasts (MABs). During the past decade evidence had accumulated that during muscle development and regeneration things may be more complex than a simple sequence of binary choices (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • Some mutations in the Ca1.2 calcium channel gene lead to Timothy syndrome, a severe form of long QT syndrome, with no current effective treatments.
  • Targeting sigma non-opioid intracellular receptor 1 (SIGMAR1) can restore heart function in heart cells derived from patients with Timothy syndrome and other types of long QT syndrome.
  • The FDA-approved cough suppressant dextromethorphan acts as a SIGMAR1 agonist, improving cardiac function in Timothy syndrome models and suggesting a new therapeutic avenue for related inherited arrhythmias.
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The CRISPR system is an adaptive defense mechanism used by bacteria and archaea against viruses and plasmids. The discovery of the CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 and its RNA-guided cleavage mechanism marked the beginning of a new era in genomic engineering by enabling the editing of a target region in the genome. Gene-edited cells or mice can be used as models for understanding human diseases.

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