Gabrielle Kardon, Ph.D.

How does muscle develop, regenerate, maintain, age, and evolve? These are the questions that drive our research. We focus on muscle stem cells because they are the source of all muscle. We focus on the muscle connective tissue because it provides the niche for muscle stem cells and is critical for muscle form and function. We study how interactions between muscle stem cells and the connective tissue orchestrate development of limb muscles and the diaphragm, regulate muscle regeneration after injury and viral infection, are the source of birth defects and fibrosis, and shape evolution of the musculoskeletal system.

Sefton EM, Gallardo M, Tobin CE, Collins BC, Colasanto MP, Merrell AJ, Kardon G. Fibroblast-derived Hgf controls recruitment and expansion of muscle during morphogenesis of the mammalian diaphragm. Elife. 2022 Sep 26;11:e74592. doi: 10.7554/eLife.74592.PMID: 36154712

Bogenschutz EL, Fox ZD, Farrell A, Wynn J, Moore B, Yu L, Aspelund G, Marth G, Yandell M. Shen Y, Chung WK, and Kardon G. 2020. Deep whole-genome sequencing of multiple proband tissues and parental blood reveals the complex genetic etiology of congenital diaphragmatic hernias. HGG Advances 1(1) 

Sefton EM, M Gallardo, G Kardon. 2018. Developmental origin and morphogenesis of the diaphragm, an essential mammalian muscle. Developmental Biology 440(2):64-73

Keefe, AC, JA Lawson, SD Flygare, ZD Fox, MP Colasanto, SJ Mathew, M Yandell, G Kardon. 2015. Muscle stem cells contribute to myofibres in sedentary adult mice. Nature Communications (6): 1-11.

Merrell, AJ, BJ Ellis, ZD Fox, JA Lawson, JA Weiss, G Kardon. 2015. Muscle connective tissue controls development of the diaphragm and is a source of congenital diaphragmatic hernias. Nature Genetics 47(5): 496-505.