Role of stem cell homing in myocardial regeneration.

Recent studies have demonstrated the potential for myocardial regeneration at the time of myocardial infarction. Our lab focuses on understanding how stem cells home to injured tissue. We believe that a detailed analysis of the biological responses to tissue injury not only gives us insight into how damage occurs, but can also yield insight into how the body attempts to repair itself. In the case of the heart, we have shown that these "healing pathways" are only expressed for a short time following injury, and this may be why myocardial damage is usually irreversible. Furthermore, work suggests that deciphering these "healing pathways" and re-establishing their expression at time remote from injury offers an avenue for developing novel therapeutics that ultimately may allow us to orchestrate and exaggerate the healing process at time remote from tissue injury.