‘Targeting of pericytes and tissue myofibroblasts during organ fibrogenesis’
| Dates: | 5 May 2015 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Life Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | University staff |
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| Speaker: | Neil Henderson |
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My lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive organ fibrosis. Myofibroblasts are the major source of extracellular matrix components that accumulate during tissue fibrosis, however the paucity of tools for reliable inactivation of genes in myofibroblasts in vivo has greatly impeded progress in dissecting the molecular mechanisms driving fibrosis, thereby slowing the discovery of novel, mechanistically targeted anti-fibrotic treatments. I will describe the development of a novel strategy (Pdgfrb-Cre) to genetically manipulate myofibroblasts in the liver and other organs, and discuss the use of transgenic fluorescent reporter mice and cell sorting to fully characterise this system. Using this strategy we identified a key role for myofibroblast ?v integrins in the regulation of fibrosis and then validated our approach by using a small molecule to target ?v integrins, thereby identifying a novel and targeted approach to treat fibrosis. Towards the end of my talk I will also discuss some of the cutting-edge imaging modalities, such as multiphoton microscopy that we are currently employing to further study cellular and molecular mechanisms of fibrogenesis in vivo.
Speaker
Neil Henderson
Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Michael Smith Lecture Theatre
Michael Smith Building
Manchester
