Muscle’s ability to repair itself declines with ageing and can be severely disrupted by injury and diseases such as motor neuron disease. Understanding the cellular signals that control muscle regeneration could help researchers identify new ways to restore or preserve muscle function. 

Dr William Roman, The Baker Foundation Fellow in Tissue Engineering/Dementia and EMBL Australia Group Leader

With a shared vision to translate science into real-world solutions, a research team at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) has built an imaging platform capable of tracking how muscle repairs itself at a cellular level, through a strategic partnership funded by The Baker Foundation.  

Dr William Roman, The Baker Foundation Fellow in Tissue Engineering is an EMBL Australian Group Leader at ARMI. Generous support from The Baker Foundation has enabled him to grow his team to eight researchers and develop an imaging-based spatial transcriptomics platform that is now central to the group’s work on muscle regeneration. 

The Baker Foundation’s philanthropic support has also made possible what Dr Roman describes as one of the most advanced in vitro neuromuscular junction models developed to date.  

The model was engineered by postdoctoral fellow Dr Melinda Wang, a member of Dr Roman’s team, using stem cells and spatial transcriptomics. It replicates the connection between neurons and muscle fibres, a connection that deteriorates in debilitating conditions such as motor neuron disease (MND). Dr Roman said the model gives his team a way to study a connection that is otherwise difficult to directly observe in people living with MND. 

Dr Roman’s advanced platform allows his team to see RNA, protein and DNA within muscle tissue at a resolution that was not previously available. In one experiment, his team tracked toxin-induced muscle damage in a mouse and observed activated stem cells rebuild new muscle cells at the injury site. In another, they isolated a single muscle fibre from mouse tissue, large enough to see with the naked eye. Both results are significant steps toward a specific target: identifying the signals that instruct muscle tissue to regenerate. 

Dr Roman said the imaging platform had changed the questions his team can ask. “Spatial transcriptomics is like a molecular map,” he said. “It lets us track gene activity over time and space, which is crucial for understanding how muscle cells communicate during healing or degeneration.” 

Skeletal muscle makes up close to 40% of total body mass. It declines with age, injury and disease, affecting mobility, independence and broader health. Research that maps the signals driving muscle regeneration is a direct step toward treatments that restore muscle function, not just slow its loss. 

Demand on the imaging platform has grown alongside the science. The lab acquired a second imaging system, funded through the Fellowship, which will double its data generation capacity.  

The Baker Foundation’s investment in Dr Roman and his research has delivered more than new technologies. Jera Peters, who obtained a Westpac PhD future fellowship, is now his first PhD student focused on tissue engineering. Two more Honours students have joined the group this year. Dr Roman’s early progress directly reflects the Foundation’s mission to foster both scientific excellence and early-career talent. 

Professor Peter Currie, Director of Research at ARMI, said The Baker Foundation’s support had been critical to this progress. 

“Dr Roman’s research would not be possible without the generosity and vision of The Baker Foundation,” Professor Currie said. “Their commitment is ensuring that discoveries with the potential to transform lives can move from idea to impact.” 

In the future, Dr Roman aims to expand his tissue engineering program at ARMI through external partnerships, strengthening the institute’s global position at the forefront of regenerative medicine.