Skip to content
People Directory

Zipora Reuveni, PhD

Zipora Reuveni

Professor, Biological Structure
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences

reuveni@uw.edu

Office: G-503
Box: 357420

Interests

Our long-term goal is to identify means to ameliorate age-related muscle deterioration (sarcopenia) and combat muscle wasting in muscular dystrophy. Sarcopenia is characterized by a decline in mass, strength, and endurance of skeletal muscles, and by fat accumulation between and within myofibers. Subtle muscle injuries that occur during routine muscle activity raise a continuous demand for functional myofiber repair throughout life. However, myogenic stem cell performance declines in old age and this decline can be a contributory factor to sarcopenia. We investigate satellite cells, classically defined tissue specific myogenic stem cells that reside beneath the myofiber basal lamina, as well as non-myogenic progenitors associated with the microvasculature that may contribute to myogenesis by myogenic reprogramming. Our research approach is based on the view that muscle aging is not an isolated event that starts late in life, but rather a continuum of ongoing developmental biology processes that progress with life.

Publications

  1. Keire P, Shearer A, Shefer G, Yablonka-Reuveni Z (2013) Isolation and culture of skeletal muscle myofibers as a means to analyze satellite cells. Methods Mol Biol. 946:431-468. Free public access in process. Pubmed
  2. Stuelsatz P, Keire P, Almuly R, Yablonka-Reuveni Z (2012) A Contemporary Atlas of the Mouse Diaphragm: Myogenicity, Vascularity, and the Pax3 Connection. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry 60: 638-657. Free public access in process. Pubmed
  3. Danoviz ME, Yablonka-Reuveni Z (2012) Skeletal muscle satellite cells: Background and methods for isolation and analysis in a primary culture system. Methods Mol Biol. 798: 21-52.Pubmed
  4. Yablonka-Reuveni Z (2011) The skeletal muscle satellite cell: still young and fascinating at 50. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry 59: 1041-1059. Pubmed
  5. Choi, SJ, Yablonka-Reuveni Z, Kaiyala KJ, Ogimoto K, Schwartz MW, Wisse BE (2011) Increased energy expenditure and leptin sensitivity account for low fat mass in myostatin deficient mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 300: E1031-1037.  Pubmed
  6. Yablonka-Reuveni Z, Day K (2011) Skeletal muscle stem cells in the spotlight: the satellite cell. In: Regenerating the Heart: Stem Cells and the Cardiovascular System (“Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Series”). Cohen I , Gaudette G, eds. Springer, Humana Press, Chapter 11, pp. 173-200.
  7. Shefer G, Rauner G, Yablonka-Reuveni Z, Benayahu D (2010) Reduced satellite cell numbers and myogenic capacity in aging can be alleviated by endurance exercise. PLoS One. 2010 Oct 12;5(10):e13307 Pubmed