Overview

The Limb and Musculoskeletal Regenerative Research Laboratory of Mimi Sammarco, Ph.D., seeks to understand the mechanisms that drive bone and soft tissue regeneration in the limb, with the goal of harnessing these mechanisms to develop regenerative therapies.

Although complete regeneration of a limb is not possible yet, regenerative approaches that extend limbs or improve the integration of prosthetics can vastly improve quality of life for people affected by limb differences or amputation.

Understanding the mechanisms that drive tissue replacement and patterning, and methods to accelerate this regenerative event, are key steps in developing translational and clinical approaches to replace bone and soft tissue. Our lab seeks to uncover the mechanisms that underpin the high-fidelity replacement of musculoskeletal tissue.

Our long-term goal is to work with clinicians to develop lab-to-limb strategies to build functioning, patterned, high-quality replacement tissue using therapeutic strategies and the body's own inherent regenerative capacity.

To this end, our lab's research spans several regenerative approaches. Our projects target cell metabolism, sensory nerves, mitochondrial signaling and the immune response to modulate tissue regeneration. Our research platform also seeks to develop a finite element model to better predict which components promote regeneration.

Affiliations

Dr. Sammarco's lab is affiliated with the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging.