Members | Principal Investigators
Daniel J. Garry, MD, PhD

Dr. Garry's laboratory has a long-standing interest in regenerative and stem cell biology with a focus on the heart and skeletal muscle. In their studies of the heart and skeletal muscle, the Garry laboratory utilizes an array of technologies including gene disruption strategies, transgenesis, single cell genome analysis, gene editing (TALEN and CRISPR technologies), inducible ES/EB model systems, hiPSC technologies, FACS and other cellular, biochemical and molecular biological techniques.

In addition, their use of lower organisms such as zebrafish and newt, which are highly regenerative model systems have successfully uncovered critical regenerative factors. Human iPSCs are another important model for cardiovascular disease investigation for the lab. Using these technologies, the Garry lab was among the first to discover the molecular markers of stem cell populations that regulate critical networks during heart and skeletal muscle development and regeneration. For example, their studies have uncovered novel Ets and Forkhead transcription factors, microRNAs and signaling pathways that direct fate determination of stem cell populations. The manipulation of these pathways using chemical genetics and molecular technologies has provided a platform focused on rebuilding and repairing the injured heart and skeletal muscle.

Publications:

Garry DJ and Wolf E. Leducq-funded program: Engineering pig hearts for transplantation. Eur Heart J. 2025, in press.

Garry DJ, Garry MG, Nakauchi H, Masaki H, Sachs DH, Weiner JI, Reichart D, Wolf E.  Allogeneic, xenogeneic, and exogenic hearts for transplantation.  Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular J. 2025, in press.

Menendez-Montes I, Garry DJ, Zhang JJ, Sadek HA. (2023) Metabolic control of cardiomyocyte cell cycle. DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal. 19(5):26-36. PMID: 38028975. go to article

Nguyen T, Rosa-Garrido M, Sadek H, Garry DJ, Zhang JJ. (2024) Promoting cardiomyocyte proliferation for myocardial regeneration in large mammals. J. Mol Cell Cardiol. 188:52-60. PMID: 38340541. go to article

Stevens JA, Dobratz TC, Fischer KD, Palmer A, Bourdage K, Wong AJ, Chapoy-Villaneuva H, Garry DJ, Liu JC, Kay MW, Kuzmiak-Glancy S, Townsend D. (2024) Mechanisms of reduced myocardial energetics of the dystrophic heart. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 326(2):H396-H407. PMID: 38099842. go to article

Kwak IY, Kim BC, Lee J, Kang T, Garry DJ, Zhang J, Gong W. (2024) Proformer: a hybrid macaron transformer model predicts expression values from promoter sequences. BMC Bioinformatics. 25(1):81. PMID: 38378442. go to article

Nguyen TM, Geng X, Wei Y, Ye L, Garry DJ, Zhang J. (2024) Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis identifies one subpopulation of endothelial cells that proliferates and another that undergoes the endothelial-mesenchymal transition in regenerating pig hearts. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 11:1257669. PMID: 38288246. go to article

Gong W, Dsouza N, Garry DJ. SeATAC: a tool for exploring the chromatin landscape and the role of pioneer factors. Genome Biol. 2023 May 22;24(1):125. doi: 10.1186/s13059-023-02954-5.PMID: 37218013. go to article

Garry DJ, Weiner JI, Greising SM, Sachs DH, Garry MG. Xenotransplantation and exotransplantation: Strategies to expand the number of donor organs. Xenotransplantation. 2023 Jan;30(1):e12786. doi: 10.1111/xen.12786. Epub 2022 Nov 11.PMID: 36367201. go to article

Garry DJ, Weiner JI, Greising SM, Garry MG, Sachs DH. Cardiac Xenotransplantation: Clinical Impact of Science and Discovery. Circulation. 2022 Sep 27;146(13):961-963. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059191. Epub 2022 Sep 26.PMID: 36154619. go to article

Garry DJ, Weiner JI, Greising SM, Garry MG, Sachs DH. Mechanisms and strategies to promote cardiac xenotransplantation. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2022 Nov;172:109-119. doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2022.07.013. Epub 2022 Aug 27.PMID: 36030840.  go to article

Koyano-Nakagawa N, Gong W, Das S, Theisen JWM, Swanholm TB, Van Ly D, Dsouza N, Singh BN, Kawakami H, Young S, Chen KQ, Kawakami Y, Garry DJ. Etv2 regulates enhancer chromatin status to initiate Shh expression in the limb bud. Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 21;13(1):4221. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31848-6.PMID: 35864091. go to article

Gong W, Das S, Sierra-Pagan JE, Skie E, Dsouza N, Larson TA, Garry MG, Luzete-Monteiro E, Zaret KS, Garry DJ. ETV2 functions as a pioneer factor to regulate and reprogram the endothelial lineage. Nat Cell Biol. 2022 May;24(5):672-684. doi: 10.1038/s41556-022-00901-3. Epub 2022 May 12.PMID: 35550615. go to article

Maeng G, Das S, Greising SM, Gong W, Singh BN, Kren S, Mickelson D, Skie E, Gafni O, Sorensen JR, Weaver CV, Garry DJ, Garry MG. Humanized skeletal muscle in MYF5/MYOD/MYF6-null pig embryos. Nat Biomed Eng. 2021 Aug;5(8):805-814. doi: 10.1038/s41551-021-00693-1. Epub 2021 Mar 29.PMID: 33782573. go to article

Singh BN, Sierra-Pagan JE, Gong W, Das S, Theisen JWM, Skie E, Garry MG, Garry DJ. ETV2 (Ets Variant Transcription Factor 2)-Rhoj Cascade Regulates Endothelial Progenitor Cell Migration During Embryogenesis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2020 Dec;40(12):2875-2890. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.120.314488. Epub 2020 Oct 29.PMID: 33115267. go to article

Garry DJ, Caplan AL, Garry MG. Chimeric Humanized Vasculature and Blood: The Intersection of Science and Ethics. Stem Cell Reports. 2020 Apr 14;14(4):538-540. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.03.016.PMID: 32294412. go to article

Das S, Koyano-Nakagawa N, Gafni O, Maeng G, Singh BN, Rasmussen T, Pan X, Choi KD, Mickelson D, Gong W, Pota P, Weaver CV, Kren S, Hanna JH, Yannopoulos D, Garry MG, Garry DJ. Generation of human endothelium in pig embryos deficient in ETV2. Nat Biotechnol. 2020 Mar;38(3):297-302. doi: 10.1038/s41587-019-0373-y. Epub 2020 Feb 24.PMID: 32094659. go to article

Maeng G, Gong W, Das S, Yannopoulos D, Garry DJ, Garry MG. ETV2-null porcine embryos survive to post-implantation following incomplete enucleation. Reproduction. 2020 May;159(5):539-547. doi: 10.1530/REP-19-0382.PMID: 31990674. go to article

Garry DJ, Garry MG. Interspecies Chimeras and the Generation of Humanized Organs. Circ Res. 2019 Jan 4;124(1):23-25. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.314189.PMID: 30605408. go to article

Koyano-Nakagawa N, Garry DJ. Etv2 as an essential regulator of mesodermal lineage development. Cardiovasc Res. 2017 Sep 1;113(11):1294-1306. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvx133.PMID: 28859300.  go to article

Ferdous A, Caprioli A, Iacovino M, Martin CM, Morris J, Richardson JA, Latif S, Hammer RE, Harvey RP, Olson EN, Kyba M, Garry DJ. Nkx2-5 transactivates the Ets-related protein 71 gene and specifies an endothelial/endocardial fate in the developing embryo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jan 20;106(3):814-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0807583106. Epub 2009 Jan 7.PMID: 19129488. go to article