Daniel Coutu
Profile and Department: Scientist Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Research Interests:
The skeleton (which includes tissues such as bone, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, periosteum and marrow stroma) displays amazing regenerative and repair properties because it contains skeletal stem cells capable of generating all of these tissues. However, in certain circumstances (e.g. in the context of aging, chronic inflammatory joint diseases or extensive/repeated trauma) those repair mechanisms are impaired. The focus of my research at OHRI and uOttawa is to study the biology of skeletal stem cells in an attempt to bring novel therapies to patients suffering from debilitating conditions with unmet clinical needs. More specifically, the research in my lab explores four main axes:
1- Study the fundamental biology of skeletal stem cells
2- Improve tissue regeneration and repair by skeletal stem cells
3- Technology development: imaging techniques, quantitative image analysis, optical clearing of tissues
4- Study the interactions between skeletal cells and blood/immune cells in the bone marrow