Ilona S. Skerjanc

Ilona S. Skerjanc

Professor 

Degrees:

B.Sc., University of Ottawa
Ph.D., McGill

Contact info:

Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology
Office: Roger Guindon Hall, Room 4218,

Phone: (613) 562-5800 x8669
Fax: (613) 562-5452
Email: iskerjan@uottawa.ca

Research Interests:

My laboratory is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of muscle development with the long-term view of using stem cells to replace damaged muscle.  Embryonic stem cells or embryonal carcinoma cells can be induced to differentiate into cardiac and skeletal muscle.  However, this process is not very efficient and only a minority of the cells differentiates down a given developmental pathway.  In order to enhance the extent of differentiation into muscle, it is essential to identify the network of transcription factors that specify different types of muscle and to understand how signaling pathways control the expression and function of the individual transcription factors in the network. A solid grasp of the fundamental mechanisms involved in muscle development will be essential in designing future therapies based on adult or embryonic stem cells for restoring cardiac sufficiency or replacing muscle in patients with muscle atrophy.

Funding:

Canadian Institutes of Health Research Operating Grants:
The molecular biology of muscle development
The molecular basis of cardiac muscle development
US Muscular Dystrophy Association
Molecular approaches to enhance myogenesis in human embryonic stem cells

Recent Publications:

  1. Dawson, J.E., Boisvenue, S., Skerjanc, I.S.* 1, and Griffith, M.1, A P19 cardiac cell line as a model for evaluating cardiac tissue engineering biomaterials, Open Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Journal, In Press. 1Authors contributed equally. Read article
  2. Savage, J., Voronova, A., Mehta, V., Sendi-Mukasa, F., and Skerjanc, I.S.*, Canonical Wnt signaling regulates Foxc1/2 expression in P19 cells, Differentiation,  Jan;79(1):31-40 (2010).
  3. Kennedy, K.A.M., Porter, T. , Mehta, V., Price, F. , Ryan, S., Karamboulas, C., Savage, J., Drysdale, T., Bennett, S. and Skerjanc, I.S.*, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 and Retinoic Acid function antagonistically in regulating cardiac and skeletal muscle development, BMC Biol. Oct 8;7(1):67 (2009).
  4. Gianakopoulos, P. and Skerjanc, I.S.*, Cross-talk between Hedgehog and Bone Morphogenetic Proteins occurs during Cardiomyogenesis in P19 cells, In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Animal, 2009 Oct;45(9):566-72. Epub 2009 Jul 8.
  5. Savage, J., Conley, A.J., Blais, A. and Skerjanc, I.S.*, Sox15 regulates pre-skeletal mesoderm formation in P19 cells, Stem Cells, 27(6):1231-43 (2009).
  6. Mitchell L, Lambert JP, Gerdes M, Al-Madhoun AS, Skerjanc IS, Figeys D, Baetz K.* Functional dissection of the NuA4 histone acetyltransferase reveals its role as a genetic hub and that Eaf1 is essential for complex integrity, Mol Cell Biol. 28 (7):2244-56 (2008).
  7. Abu-Farha M, Lambert JP, Al-Madhoun AS, Elisma F, Skerjanc IS, Figeys D.* The tale of two domains: Proteomic and genomic analysis of SMYD2, a new histone methyltransferase. Mol Cell Proteomics, 7(3):560-72 ( 2008).
  8. Zeineddine,D., Papadimou, E., Chebli, K., Gineste, M., Liu, J., Grey, C., Thurig, S. Behfar, A., Wallace, V., Skerjanc, I . and Pucéat, M. Oct-3/4 dose-dependently regulates specification of embryonic stem cells toward a cardiac lineage and early heart development, Dev Cell. 11(4):535-46 (2006).
  9. Karamboulas, C., Swedani, A., Ward, C., Al-Madhoun, A.S., Wilton, S., Boisvenue, S., Ridgeway, A.G., and Skerjanc, I.S. HDAC activity regulates entry of mesoderm cells into the cardiac muscle lineage, J Cell Sci.119(Pt 20):4305-14 (2006).
  10. Karamboulas, C., Dakubo, G.D., Liu, J., Repentigny, Y., Yutzey, K., Wallace, V., Kothary, R., and Skerjanc, I.S., Disruption of MEF2 activity in cardiomyoblasts inhibits cardiomyogenesis, J Cell Sci. 119(Pt 20):4315-21 (2006).
  11. Gianakopoulos, P. and Skerjanc, I.S. Hedgehog signaling induces cardiomyogenesis in P19 cells. J.Biol.Chem. 280(22):21022-8 (2005).
  12. McKinney JL, Murdoch DJ, Wang J, Robinson J, Biltcliffe C, Khan HM, Walker PM, Savage J, Skerjanc I, Hegele RA. Venn analysis as part of a bioinformatic approach to prioritize expressed sequence tags from cardiac libraries. Clin. Biochem. 37(11):953-60 (2004).
  13. Petropoulos, H., Gianakopoulos, P., Ridgeway, A.G., and Skerjanc, I.S. Disruption of Meox or Gli activity ablates skeletal myogenesis in P19 cells, J.Biol.Chem., 279(23): 23874-23881 (2004).
  14. Rogerson, P.J., Jamali, M. and Skerjanc, I.S. The C-terminus of myogenin, but not MyoD, targets upregulation of MEF2C expression, FEBS Lett. 524(1-3):134-8 (2002) .
  15. Turner, S.D., Ricci, A. R., Petropoulos, H., Genereaux, J., Skerjanc, I. S. and Brandl, C.J. The E2-ubiquitin conjugase Rad6 is required for the ArgR/Mcm1 repression of ARG1 transcription. Mol. Cell. Biol., 22(12): 4011-9 (2002).
  16. Petropoulos, H. and Skerjanc, I.S. b -catenin is essential and sufficient for skeletal myogenesis in P19 cells, J. Biol. Chem., 277(18): 15393-9 (2002).
  17. Jamali, M., Karamboulas, C., Rogerson, P.J., and Skerjanc, I.S. BMP signaling regulates Nkx2-5 activity during cardiomyogenesis, FEBS Letters 509: 126-130 (2001).
  18. Jamali, M., Rogerson, P.J., Wilton, S., and Skerjanc, I.S. Nkx2-5 is essential for cardiomyogenesis, J. Biol. Chem. 276(45): 42252-42258 (2001).
  19. Jamali, M., Karamboulas, C., Wilton, S. and Skerjanc, I.S. Factors in serum regulate Nkx2.5 and MEF2C function, In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol.-Animal 37: 635-637 (2001).
  20. Ridgeway, A.G. and Skerjanc, I.S. Pax-3 is essential for skeletal myogenesis and the expression of Six1 and Eya2. J. Biol. Chem., 276(22): 19033-19039 (2001).

 

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Last updated: 2010.06.03