The Lab
The Gregory Lab consists of a multinational group of investigators and students as part of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Texas A&M Health. Under the leadership of Dr. Carl Gregory, Ph.D., the Gregory Lab investigates the therapeutic potential of stem cells in bone regeneration due to injury, cancer, or other bone diseases.
Research Interests
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Biology
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are purified from some types of donated adult tissue or differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells, and show a remarkable degree of promise for the treatment of diseases and repair of tissue trauma. Nevertheless, individual batches of MSCs can vary with respect to expandability and efficacy. Dr Gregory’s lab has been examining the biology of MSCs with a view to developing rapid molecular markers and tests for evaluating/purifying maximally efficacious cultures of MSCs. Recently, the Gregory group were awarded a prestigious $1.4M X-Grant from the Texas A&M University (TAMU) President’s Excellence Fund to develop technologies for the large scale expansion of stem cells for clinical use. This work will be done in collaboration with the TAMU School of Engineering and the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing at Texas A&M.
MSCs and Bone Healing
The group specializes in bone repair by MSCs. Based on detailed characterization of the molecular mechanism of osteoblast differentiation by MSCs, a novel and effective bone regeneration strategy has been developed. This strategy, based on pharmaceutical conditioning of MSC cultures prior to administration in a specialized matrix, re-initiates bone formation in non-healing bone defects. The specialized matrix is also novel technology developed by the Gregory group, and can be utilized as a delivery vehicle for a variety of osteoprogenitor cell types such as autologous bone marrow. Current proof of concept has been performed in rodent models and trials in large animals are planned.
Malignant Bone Disease
Many tumors of the skeleton destroy bone tissue to facilitate their expansion and metastasis. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which some tumors inhibit the repair of host bone, often increase the aggressiveness of the tumor cells themselves. The Gregory group contributed to the discovery that Dkk-1, a secreted inhibitor of the Wnt pathway inhibits the repair of bone by MSCs. When Dkk-1 is highly expressed by osteosarcoma cells, they are more effective in destroying and infiltrating bone. The tumor cells themselves also respond in an autocrine manner to Dkk-1 by becoming highly primitive and highly proliferative, thus becoming a highly aggressive tumor. The group is currently examining the effects of various small molecules and immunological strategies for the safe and effective inhibition of Dkk-1 activity in bone tumors. The Gregory laboratory also studies bone-tumor interactions under conditions of simulated microgravity and has developed an in vitro platform for the modeling of experimental malignant bone disease using microgravity simulating bioreactors.