Photo of David W. Rowe, MD

David W. Rowe, MD

Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine and Skeletal Development
Academic Office Location:
Center for Regenerative Medicine and Skeletal Development
UConn Health
263 Farmington Avenue
Farmington, CT 06030-3705
Phone: 860-679-2324
Fax: 860-679-2910
Website(s):

Skeletal Biology and Regeneration Graduate Program
Education
DegreeInstitutionMajor
BAUniversity of VermontChemistry
MDUniversity of VermontMedicine
The primary focus of the laboratory is to recognize and ultimately isolate subpopulations of cells at define levels of differentiation within the skeletal lineage for bone, articular cartilage, temporal mandibular cartilage and tendon. This goal has been made possible by the construction of a series of mice transgenic for promoter-GFP reporter genes that activate at defined levels of differentiation. Fluorescent microscopic methods have been developed to observed lineage progression in real time in culture and in adult skeletal tissues with specific reference to murine models of skeletal tissue repair. The goal is to map where a mutation acts to impede forward progress of cell development and to correlate its in vivo impact within intact mouse bone. In addition, the models for evaluating progenitor activity have been adapted to human derived cells from either adult or hES/iPS sources. Particular attention is directed in multiplexing various colors of GFP and fluorescent cellular stains to maximize the information available within a histological section of mineralized tissues. We participate regularly with members of the Computer Science department at Storrs to develop advanced image analysis of skeletal images and new approaches for interpreting microarray and chromatin immunoprecipitation studies.

Current projects that utilize this experimental approach include: a) microarray analysis of genes expressed in FAC isolated subpopulations within the osteoblast, chondrogenic and tendon lineage; b) development of models of skeletal repair to test the progenitor potential of various stem cell sources and scaffolds used to contain the cell within the defect zone; c) development of efficient fluorescent imaging techniques for skeletal tissues and application of image analysis techniques for automating incremental differences in skeletal repair; d) animal models of osteogenesis imperfecta to evaluate strategies of gene correction and cell replacement. Graduate students will be exposed to techniques of DNA cloning and BAC recombineering, cell culture of primary progenitor cells from adult animals and ES/iPS cells from human sources, hybridization and NGS sequence based microarray analysis of RNA, histological assessment of the osteoblast lineage and management and analysis of murine models of human disease including skeletal repair and tissue engineering.

Not accepting students for Lab Rotations at this time

Journal Articles

Abstracts

  • Fluorescent quantification of osteogenesis using GFP-transgenic mouse reporter cell technology.
    Kuhn LT, Goldberg AJ, Liu Y, and Rowe DW. Regenerative Medicine-Advancing Next Generation Therapies 2009 Jan;
  • Quantitation of constitutive prostaglandin G/H synthase (cyclooxygenase) mRNA levels in mouse osteo-blastic MC3T3 E1 cells using competitive polymerase chain reaction.
    Kawaguchi H, Yavari R, Stover ML, Rowe DW, Raisz LG, Pilbeam CC. J Bone and Miner Res 1993 Jan;8(S1)(S299):

Conference Papers

Other

Reviews