Current Research

Stem cell fates have a profound impact on health and disease progression. They are absolutely essential for their function in tissue development, maintenance, and disposition. The Scimè lab is focused on understanding the molecular, cellular, and physiological aspects for how metabolism controls stem cell fate choices, particularly in muscle and adipose tissue. This has implications for disorders such as type II diabetes, obesity, cancer, sarcopenia, and muscular dystrophy. At the cellular level adult stem cell fate choices of quiescence, activation, differentiation, and self-renewal are bio-energetically balanced through several metabolic pathways. We have found that altering these pathways impacts fate decisions. Ongoing studies are 1) to determine the role of cellular metabolism on stem cell fate choices in various tissue types, 2) to assess the role of whole-body stressors, such as exercise and diet on stem cell behavior, 3) to find the influence of altered metabolism on cancer stem function, and 4) to develop stem cell efficacy for regenerative medicine.

Sub-Disciplines

Stem Cells, Metabolism, Molecular Biology, Muscle, Adipose, Cancer

Selected Publications

Bhattacharya D, Shah V, Oresajo, OJ and Scimè, A. (2021). p107 mediated mitochondrial
function controls muscle stem cell proliferative fates. Nature Communications. 12:5977.

Bhattacharya D and Scimè A. (2020). Mitochondrial function in muscle stem cell fates. Front
Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019 Jun 16;8:480 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00480

Cantini G, Di Franco A, Mannelli M, Scimè A, Maggi M and Luconi M. (2020). The role of
metabolic changes in shaping the fate of cancer-associated adipose stem cells. Front Endocrinol
(Lausanne). Apr 16;10:773 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00332

Bhattacharya D and Scimè A. (2019). Metabolic regulation of epithelial to mesenchymal
transition: Implications for endocrine cancer. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019 Nov 26;10:773
DOI:10.3389/fendo.2019.00773

Porras DP, Abbaszadeh M, Bhattacharya D, D’Souza NC, Edjiu NR, Perry CGR and Scimè A.
(2017). p107 determines a metabolic checkpoint required for adipocyte lineage fates. Stem Cells.
2017 May;35(5):1378-1391.

Bhattacharya D, Ydfors M, Hughes MC, Norrbom J, Perry CGR and Scimè A. (2017).
Decreased transcriptional corepressor p107 is associated with exercise-induced mitochondrial
biogenesis in human skeletal muscle. Physiol Rep. 2017 Mar;5(5). pii: e13155.

Research Areas