Deneen Wellik
Position title: Professor and Chair
Email: wellik@wisc.edu
Address:
Cell & Regenerative Biology
The role of Hox genes in the development, growth and homeostasis of the adult skeleton, muscle and lung.
- Address
- 4531 WIMR II
- Department
- Cell & Regenerative Biology
- Research Interests
- Mouse developmental genetics and regenerative biology.
- Research Fields
- Role of Hox genes in musculoskeletal stem and progenitor cells.
My laboratory focuses on the role of Hox genes in development, disease, repair and regeneration using mouse as a model organism. The expression and function of Hox genes have been highly conserved throughout evolution where these genes play critical roles in many aspects of developmental patterning and organogenesis. In addition to roles in embryonic development, more recent work in my laboratory reveals that Hox-expressing cells are retained in many tissues and organs through postnatal and life as mesenchymal stem/precursor cells that remain important for maintenance and repair of organs and tissues. Utilizing mainly mouse developmental genetics, my laboratory explores the function of these genes in development, regeneration and repair, and in response to disease. We are currently actively exploring the musculoskeletal system and the lung as model organ systems for Hox function. Our long-term goal is to understand mechanisms by which Hox genes to direct development, repair and regeneration in mammals and to elucidate how this information can be used to improve potential regenerative therapies.
Representative Publications:
Search PubMed for more publications by Deneen Wellik
Echevarria-Andino, M.L., Song, J.Y., van Ginkel, P., Chen, S., Flynn, C.G.K., Keles, S., Allen, B.L., Wellik, D.M., “Generation of Hoxa11-3XFLAG and Hoxd11-3XFLAG alleles to investigate Hox11 genome-wide binding”, Developmental Biology 17:524: 210-218 (2025).
Flynn, C.G.K., Van Ginkel, P.R., Hubert, K.A., Guo, Q., Hrycaj, S.M., McDermott, A.E., Madruga, A., Miller, A.P., Wellik, D.M., “Hox11-expressing interstitial cells contribute to adult skeletal muscle at homeostasis”, Development 150(4), (2023).
Song, Jane Y., Pineault, Kyriel M., Dones, Jesús M., Raines, R.T., Wellik, D. M., “Hox Genes Maintain Critical Roles in the Adult Skeleton”, PNAS 117(13): 7296-7304 (2020).
Pineault, K.M., Song, J.Y., Kozloff, K.M., Lucas, D., and Wellik, D.M., “Hox11-expressing, regional skeletal stem cells are progenitors for bone, cartilage and fat from embryonic through adult stages”, Nature Communications 10(1): 3168-3178 (2019).