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Andrew Brack, PhD

TitleAssociate Professor
SchoolUCSF School of Medicine
DepartmentOrthopaedic Surgery
Address35 Medical Center Way
San Francisco CA 94143
Phone415-476-3979
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    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse Overview
    Originally from Liverpool, England, Andrew graduated with a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biophysics from King’s College London. He did two postdoctoral fellowships, the first with Simon Hughes at King’s College London and the second with Tom Rando at Stanford University. Andrew started his own lab at the Center for Regenerative Medicine, MGH, Harvard University in 2008. In 2015 he moved to UCSF to begin the next phase of his lab's journey.

    Brack Lab's is focused on understanding the cellullar communication between the muscle stem cell and its environment to identify strategies that improve skeletal muscle regeneration and ameliorate sarcopenia.

    Quiescence and self-renewal
    Maintenance and reacquisition of quiescence are defining features of adult stem cells. We are studying the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that control quiescence and how they impinge on self-renewal and differentiation potential during muscle homeostasis, injury response and aging. Using a muscle stem cell specific mutant we demonstrated that Sprouty1 (Spry1), an RTK signaling inhibitor, is required for the reestablishment of quiescence in proliferating stem cells. We are presently identifying intrinsic and niche-derived signals that promote and retain stem cell potential.

    Stem cell niche
    The stem cell niche as originally conceptualized refers to the microenvironment that maintains ‘stemness’. The niche is a protector of stem cell number and function restraining proliferation and differentiation of stem cells and maintaining a quiescent phenotype. The satellite cell niche may be composed of different cell types. We are presently identifying the cell types and the essential signaling elements that compose the niche to retain stemness after injury and are deregulated during aging.

    Satellite cell heterogeneity
    It is apparent that adult stem cell populations are heterogeneous. Using a marker of proliferative history, based on retention of a fluorescent marker, we recently demonstrated that the adult satellite cell pool is composed of subsets of cells that are slowly dividing during ontogeny. Label retaining cells possess the properties of stem cells; in contrast, satellite cell subsets that diluted label functioned as progenitors. During aging a subset of functional label retaining cells are preserved. Current projects are deciphering whether heterogeneity is due to extrinsic influences, such as discrete niches, or cell intrinsic regulation, such as epigenetic and metabolic status.

    Aging
    Aging is associated with a progressive decline in many tissues throughout the body. Skeletal muscle is no exception. We are studying the mechanisms that lead to a loss of stem cell number and function during aging.

    Brack Lab's Full Address is:
    Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research
    Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
    University of California, San Francisco
    35 Medical Center Way Box 0669
    San Francisco, CA 94143


    Collapse Research 
    Collapse Research Activities and Funding
    Quiescence of Muscle Stem Cells During Growth and Repair
    NIH/NIAMS R01AR061002Apr 1, 2012 - Mar 31, 2017
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Muscle Satellite Cell Pool During Aging
    NIH/NIAMS R01AR060868Sep 21, 2011 - Jul 31, 2016
    Role: Principal Investigator

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    Collapse Featured Publications

    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse Publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help.
    List All   |   Timeline
    1. Kimmel JC, Chang AY, Brack A, Marshall WF. Inferring cell state by quantitative motility analysis reveals a dynamic state system and broken detailed balance. PLoS Comput Biol. 2018 Jan; 14(1):e1005927. PMID: 29338005.
      View in: PubMed
    2. Hwang AB, Brack A. Muscle Stem Cells and Aging. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2018; 126:299-322. PMID: 29305003.
      View in: PubMed
    3. Eliazer S, Brack A. Stem cells: Cause and consequence in aged-muscle decline. Nature. 2016 12 15; 540(7633):349-350. PMID: 27919069.
      View in: PubMed
    4. Harper SC, Brack A, MacDonnell S, Franti M, Olwin BB, Bailey BA, Rudnicki MA, Houser SR. Is Growth Differentiation Factor 11 a Realistic Therapeutic for Aging-Dependent Muscle Defects? Circ Res. 2016 Apr 01; 118(7):1143-50; discussion 1150. PMID: 27034276; PMCID: PMC4829942 [Available on 04/01/17].
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    5. Brack A, Muñoz-Cánoves P. The ins and outs of muscle stem cell aging. Skelet Muscle. 2016; 6:1. PMID: 26783424; PMCID: PMC4716636.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    6. Eliazer S, Brack A. Lost in Translation: Preserving Satellite Cell Function with Global Translational Control. Cell Stem Cell. 2016 Jan 07; 18(1):5-7. PMID: 26748748.
      View in: PubMed
    7. Egerman MA, Cadena SM, Gilbert JA, Meyer A, Nelson HN, Swalley SE, Mallozzi C, Jacobi C, Jennings LL, Clay I, Laurent G, Ma S, Brachat S, Lach-Trifilieff E, Shavlakadze T, Trendelenburg AU, Brack A, Glass DJ. GDF11 Increases with Age and Inhibits Skeletal Muscle Regeneration. Cell Metab. 2015 Jul 07; 22(1):164-74. PMID: 26001423; PMCID: PMC4497834.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    8. Kollu S, Abou-Khalil R, Shen C, Brack A. The Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Safeguards Genomic Integrity of Skeletal Muscle Satellite Cells. Stem Cell Reports. 2015 Jun 09; 4(6):1061-74. PMID: 25960061; PMCID: PMC4471836.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    9. Brack A. Pax7 is back. Skelet Muscle. 2014; 4(1):24. PMID: 25546147; PMCID: PMC4276024.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    10. Abraham J, Nuñez-Álvarez Y, Hettmer S, Carrió E, Chen HI, Nishijo K, Huang ET, Prajapati SI, Walker RL, Davis S, Rebeles J, Wiebush H, McCleish AT, Hampton ST, Bjornson CR, Brack A, Wagers AJ, Rando TA, Capecchi MR, Marini FC, Ehler BR, Zarzabal LA, Goros MW, Michalek JE, Meltzer PS, Langenau DM, LeGallo RD, Mansoor A, Chen Y, Suelves M, Rubin BP, Keller C. Lineage of origin in rhabdomyosarcoma informs pharmacological response. Genes Dev. 2014 Jul 15; 28(14):1578-91. PMID: 25030697; PMCID: PMC4102765.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    11. Chakkalakal JV, Christensen J, Xiang W, Tierney MT, Boscolo FS, Sacco A, Brack A. Early forming label-retaining muscle stem cells require p27kip1 for maintenance of the primitive state. Development. 2014 Apr; 141(8):1649-59. PMID: 24715455; PMCID: PMC3978835.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    12. Jung Y, Brack A. Cellular mechanisms of somatic stem cell aging. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2014; 107:405-38. PMID: 24439814; PMCID: PMC3982593.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    13. Brack A, Hochedlinger K. ISSCR 2013: back to Bean Town. Stem Cell Reports. 2013; 1(6):479-85. PMID: 25847520; PMCID: PMC3871383.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    14. Brack A. Ageing of the heart reversed by youthful systemic factors! EMBO J. 2013 Aug 14; 32(16):2189-90. PMID: 23860129; PMCID: PMC3746199.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    15. Li Z, Gilbert JA, Zhang Y, Zhang M, Qiu Q, Ramanujan K, Shavlakadze T, Eash JK, Scaramozza A, Goddeeris MM, Kirsch DG, Campbell KP, Brack A, Glass DJ. An HMGA2-IGF2BP2 axis regulates myoblast proliferation and myogenesis. Dev Cell. 2012 Dec 11; 23(6):1176-88. PMID: 23177649; PMCID: PMC3645921.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    16. Chakkalakal JV, Jones KM, Basson MA, Brack A. The aged niche disrupts muscle stem cell quiescence. Nature. 2012 Oct 18; 490(7420):355-60. PMID: 23023126; PMCID: PMC3605795.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    17. Brack A, Rando TA. Tissue-specific stem cells: lessons from the skeletal muscle satellite cell. Cell Stem Cell. 2012 May 04; 10(5):504-14. PMID: 22560074; PMCID: PMC3348769.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    18. Warren L, Manos PD, Ahfeldt T, Loh YH, Li H, Lau F, Ebina W, Mandal PK, Smith ZD, Meissner A, Daley GQ, Brack A, Collins JJ, Cowan C, Schlaeger TM, Rossi DJ. Highly efficient reprogramming to pluripotency and directed differentiation of human cells with synthetic modified mRNA. Cell Stem Cell. 2010 Nov 05; 7(5):618-30. PMID: 20888316; PMCID: PMC3656821.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    19. Abou-Khalil R, Brack A. Muscle stem cells and reversible quiescence: the role of sprouty. Cell Cycle. 2010 Jul 01; 9(13):2575-80. PMID: 20581433.
      View in: PubMed
    20. Shea KL, Xiang W, LaPorta VS, Licht JD, Keller C, Basson MA, Brack A. Sprouty1 regulates reversible quiescence of a self-renewing adult muscle stem cell pool during regeneration. Cell Stem Cell. 2010 Feb 05; 6(2):117-29. PMID: 20144785; PMCID: PMC2846417.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    21. Brack A, Murphy-Seiler F, Hanifi J, Deka J, Eyckerman S, Keller C, Aguet M, Rando TA. BCL9 is an essential component of canonical Wnt signaling that mediates the differentiation of myogenic progenitors during muscle regeneration. Dev Biol. 2009 Nov 01; 335(1):93-105. PMID: 19699733; PMCID: PMC3259687.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    22. Brack A. Adult muscle stem cells avoid death and Paxes. Cell Stem Cell. 2009 Aug 07; 5(2):132-4. PMID: 19664985.
      View in: PubMed
    23. Chargé SB, Brack A, Bayol SA, Hughes SM. MyoD- and nerve-dependent maintenance of MyoD expression in mature muscle fibres acts through the DRR/PRR element. BMC Dev Biol. 2008 Jan 23; 8:5. PMID: 18215268; PMCID: PMC2259323.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    24. Brack A, Conboy IM, Conboy MJ, Shen J, Rando TA. A temporal switch from notch to Wnt signaling in muscle stem cells is necessary for normal adult myogenesis. Cell Stem Cell. 2008 Jan 10; 2(1):50-9. PMID: 18371421.
      View in: PubMed
    25. Brack A, Conboy MJ, Roy S, Lee M, Kuo CJ, Keller C, Rando TA. Increased Wnt signaling during aging alters muscle stem cell fate and increases fibrosis. Science. 2007 Aug 10; 317(5839):807-10. PMID: 17690295.
      View in: PubMed
    26. Brack A, Rando TA. Intrinsic changes and extrinsic influences of myogenic stem cell function during aging. Stem Cell Rev. 2007; 3(3):226-37. PMID: 17917136.
      View in: PubMed
    27. Brack A, Bildsoe H, Hughes SM. Evidence that satellite cell decrement contributes to preferential decline in nuclear number from large fibres during murine age-related muscle atrophy. J Cell Sci. 2005 Oct 15; 118(Pt 20):4813-21. PMID: 16219688.
      View in: PubMed
    28. Bruusgaard JC, Brack A, Hughes SM, Gundersen K. Muscle hypertrophy induced by the Ski protein: cyto-architecture and ultrastructure. Acta Physiol Scand. 2005 Oct; 185(2):141-9. PMID: 16168008.
      View in: PubMed
    29. Brack A, Brandmeier BD, Ferguson RE, Criddle S, Dale RE, Irving M. Bifunctional rhodamine probes of Myosin regulatory light chain orientation in relaxed skeletal muscle fibers. Biophys J. 2004 Apr; 86(4):2329-41. PMID: 15041671; PMCID: PMC1304082.
      View in: PubMed, PubMed Central
    30. Ferguson RE, Sun YB, Mercier P, Brack A, Sykes BD, Corrie JE, Trentham DR, Irving M. In situ orientations of protein domains: troponin C in skeletal muscle fibers. Mol Cell. 2003 Apr; 11(4):865-74. PMID: 12718873.
      View in: PubMed
    31. Chargé SB, Brack A, Hughes SM. Aging-related satellite cell differentiation defect occurs prematurely after Ski-induced muscle hypertrophy. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2002 Oct; 283(4):C1228-41. PMID: 12225986.
      View in: PubMed
    32. Rittner HL, Kaiser M, Brack A, Szweda LI, Goronzy JJ, Weyand CM. Tissue-destructive macrophages in giant cell arteritis. Circ Res. 1999 May 14; 84(9):1050-8. PMID: 10325242.
      View in: PubMed
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