ISAKOS 2023 Congress Faculty

Johnny Huard, PhD

Steadman Philippon Research Institute
Vail, Colorado UNITED STATES

I am the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Director of the Center for Regenerative and Personalized Medicine (CRPM) at the Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) in Vail, Colorado. I am also an Affiliate faculty, Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado where I direct a research team of 4 Principal Investigators. I served as Professor, Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) McGovern Medical School. Between 1995-2015, I held the Henry J. Mankin Endowed Chair in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and was the Director of the Stem Cell Research Center (SCRC); held numerous secondary appointments at the University of Pittsburgh and was also the deputy director for Cellular Therapies at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. I have extensive knowledge in the areas of gene therapy, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine applications based on the use of muscle-derived stem/progenitor cells (MDSCs). The muscle-derived stem cells that have been isolated by my team are currently undergoing clinical trials for treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and myocardial infarction. More than 700 women suffering with SUI in Canada and the U.S. have volunteered for this stem cell therapy (Phase III Clinical Trial). My team and I have published over 475 peer reviewed papers, over 100 reviews/book chapters, and have over 1000 abstracts accepted for presentation at national and international conferences (Citations 50278; h-index:118, i10-index:401). Our current major research interests include: muscle stem cells isolation & characterization; bone & articular cartilage regeneration and repair; senotherapeutics in musculoskeletal repair, alleviation of muscle weakness in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD); cardiac and skeletal muscle injury repair, regeneration, and fibrosis prevention; peripheral nerve regeneration; healthy aging, and the use of adult stem cells as a source for paracrine factors to alleviate the phenotypic changes associated with natural and accelerated aging. The focus of my laboratory is to develop biological medicine approaches to improve musculoskeletal tissue repair after injury, disease and aging. We are using a variety of technology that falls into four different categories which include: Biologics (adult stem cells which include muscle derived stem cells, adipose derived stem cells as well as Bone Marrow Aspirate and Platelet Rich Plasma); Regenerative Medicine approaches (gene therapy approaches, CRISPR-Cas9, protein delivery like coacervate, microspheres, PA-nanofibers and magnetic nanoparticles); Therapeutics (FDA approved drugs such as anti-fibrotic agents, pro-angiogenic agents, telomerase activity, (hTERT), senotherapeutics like senolytic and senomorphic drugs); Animal Modelling (dystrophic and progeria mice models, super healer mice (MRL/MpJ), osteoarthritis model/microfracture, tibia fracture, calvarial defect and ovariectomy). My recent research has led to several Clinical Trials using Losartan and fisetin for treatment of different diseases.