{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/86620"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/86620","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Reprogramming Stem Cell Rejuvenation for Restoring Muscle Regeneration after Aging","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Shahini, Aref; 0000-0002-2744-2875"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Andreadis, Stelios","Chemical and Biological Engineering"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-02-21T20:58:54Z","date_published":"2025-02-21T20:58:54Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:32Z","subjects":["biology","aging"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/86620","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Andreadis, Stelios","Chemical and Biological Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Shahini, Aref; 0000-0002-2744-2875"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-02-21T20:58:54Z","2020"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["Supplemental files: Shahini_Ch3-suppl-videos.zip, Chapter 3 Supplementary Videos; Shahini_Ch5-suppl-materials.zip, Chapter 5 Supplementary Materials"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["biology","aging"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/86620"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","The regeneration capacity of adult organisms decreases after aging or chronic diseases. One of the pivotal factors in regeneration is the stem cells that are resident in the tissues. These stem cells are evolutionarily inherited from embryonic development to regenerate our tissue after injury or aging. Unfortunately, stem cells are also subjected to cellular senescence as we age. Senescent stem cells lose their capacity to proliferate and regenerate in response to degeneration. Interestingly, in the first stages of life when the embryo develops, a circuit of transcription factors are active to maintain the self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESC). In the core of these factors are the master regulators of pluripotency \"NANOG, OCT4, and SOX2.\" The expression of NANOG is essential to maintaining pluripotency and an undifferentiated state of ESC as well as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) that are generated from reprogramming somatic cells. Indeed the process of reprogramming resets the aging clock in the somatic cells and as long as NANOG is present in iPSC, these cells maintain their proliferation and differentiation capacity overtime. Recent studies have shown that the ectopic expression of NANOG in somatic cells can improve proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and fibroblasts without reprogramming these cells to iPSC. In line with these studies, I initially assessed the myogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells toward smooth muscle cells (SMC) upon addition of TGF-β in the media. These MSC-SMC cells were then encapsulated in engineered microtissues that are under tension and recapitulate the microenvironment of smooth muscle tissues in our body. Similar to senescent smooth muscle, the contractile capacity of MSC-SMC tissues significantly decreased after cellular senescence due to decline in actomyosin contractile machinery, and overexpression of NANOG in senescent tissues could reinstate the actomyosin contractile machinery and restore the contractile function to the young levels. The restoration of myogenic differentiation and contractile function of MSC encouraged me to assess the effect of NANOG on the myogenic progenitors of skeletal muscle (Myoblasts)...","**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact library@buffalo.edu. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.**"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf","application/zip"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reprogramming Stem Cell Rejuvenation for Restoring Muscle Regeneration after Aging"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Andreadis, Stelios","Chemical and Biological Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Shahini, Aref; 0000-0002-2744-2875"],"dc:date":["2025-02-21T20:58:54Z","2020"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","The regeneration capacity of adult organisms decreases after aging or chronic diseases. One of the pivotal factors in regeneration is the stem cells that are resident in the tissues. These stem cells are evolutionarily inherited from embryonic development to regenerate our tissue after injury or aging. Unfortunately, stem cells are also subjected to cellular senescence as we age. Senescent stem cells lose their capacity to proliferate and regenerate in response to degeneration. Interestingly, in the first stages of life when the embryo develops, a circuit of transcription factors are active to maintain the self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESC). In the core of these factors are the master regulators of pluripotency \"NANOG, OCT4, and SOX2.\" The expression of NANOG is essential to maintaining pluripotency and an undifferentiated state of ESC as well as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) that are generated from reprogramming somatic cells. Indeed the process of reprogramming resets the aging clock in the somatic cells and as long as NANOG is present in iPSC, these cells maintain their proliferation and differentiation capacity overtime. Recent studies have shown that the ectopic expression of NANOG in somatic cells can improve proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and fibroblasts without reprogramming these cells to iPSC. In line with these studies, I initially assessed the myogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells toward smooth muscle cells (SMC) upon addition of TGF-β in the media. These MSC-SMC cells were then encapsulated in engineered microtissues that are under tension and recapitulate the microenvironment of smooth muscle tissues in our body. Similar to senescent smooth muscle, the contractile capacity of MSC-SMC tissues significantly decreased after cellular senescence due to decline in actomyosin contractile machinery, and overexpression of NANOG in senescent tissues could reinstate the actomyosin contractile machinery and restore the contractile function to the young levels. The restoration of myogenic differentiation and contractile function of MSC encouraged me to assess the effect of NANOG on the myogenic progenitors of skeletal muscle (Myoblasts)...","**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact library@buffalo.edu. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.**"],"dc:format":["application/pdf","application/zip"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/86620"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:relation":["Supplemental files: Shahini_Ch3-suppl-videos.zip, Chapter 3 Supplementary Videos; Shahini_Ch5-suppl-materials.zip, Chapter 5 Supplementary Materials"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["biology","aging"],"dc:title":["Reprogramming Stem Cell Rejuvenation for Restoring Muscle Regeneration after Aging"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:32Z"}