Gabrielle Kardon, Ph.D.

Professor; H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair

Research Focus

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.

Representative Publications

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.

Complete list at MyBibliography

Personnel

Nathan Burns
Nathan Burns

Graduate Student

Nataliia Chernega
Nataliia Chernega

Lab Assistant

Mya Scheib
Mya Scheib

Graduate Student

Veena Subramanian
Veena Subramanian

Research Scientist

Jake Wang
Jake Wang

Lab Technician



Contact Information

Email: gkardon@genetics.utah.edu

Office: 801.585.6184

Lab: 801.585.7365

Building/Office: EIHG 6110A