Fabio Rossi
Professor, University of British Columbia
NMD4C Involvement: Pillar 1: Preclinical Science
Email FabioBiography
Dr. Rossi’s research focuses on the biology and therapeutic applications of adult stem cells, and specifically on the role of inflammation in regeneration and on the role of stem cells in degenerative disease. After completing his medical education in Genoa, Italy, he obtained a Ph.D. in Thomas Graf’s laboratory at the European Molecular Biology Laboratories in Heidelberg, Germany were he first started working on bone marrow derived stem cells. During his postdoctoral work with Helen Blau at Stanford University he developed several novel tools and methods to study biological events (e.g. protein-protein interactions) at the single cell level. This work is at the basis of Discoverex’s highly successful series of GPCR reporter cell lines. He was the first to demonstrate that microglia can self renew within the CNS and provided the first description of the role of fibro/adipogenic progenitors in muscle regeneration and degeneration. His current research focus is on the crosstalk between innate immune cells, stromal stem/progenitors and tissue specific stem cells, how it regulates the response to damage in skeletal and cardiac muscle, and how these mechanism go awry and contribute to fibrotic degeneration in chronic disease. Dr Rossi has also been active in the community, founding and currently directing the BC Regenerative Medicine Initiative, focussed on fostering colaborative endeavours and knowledge translation among Regenerative Medicine Researchers throughout BC and the Cascadia region.
Recent Publications
Losciale, JM, Lin, B, Theret, M, Schweitzer, AM, Fliss, MD, Scarr, T et al.. Quadriceps Morphology 6- to 60-Months After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2025.35 (7)e70109 PMID:40682419
Kabil, A, Nayyar, N, Xu, C, Brassard, J, Hill, LA, Shin, SB et al.. Functional targeting of ILC2s and ILC3s reveals selective roles in intestinal fibrosis and homeostasis. J Exp Med. 2025.222 (7) PMID:40434419
Hamer, MS, Rossi, FMV. Multitasking muscle: engineering iPSC-derived myogenic progenitors to do more. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2024.12 1526635 PMID:39911186
Kramer, JLK, Lam, T, Rossi, FMV, Illes, J. On the use of sham transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation in spinal cord injury clinical trials. Brain. 2025.148 (5)1456-1458 PMID:39901727
Messing, M, Theret, M, Hughes, MR, Wu, J, Syed, OH, Li, FF et al.. Type-2 innate signals are dispensable for skeletal muscle regeneration and pathology linked to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. EMBO Rep. 2025.26 (5)1406-1421 PMID:39900735
Lin, B, Soliman, H, Rossi, FMV, Theret, M. Fibro-Adipogenic Progenitor Isolation, Expansion, and Differentiation from the Spiny Mouse Model. J Vis Exp. 2024. (213) PMID:39620593
Stankiewicz, LN, Salim, K, Flaschner, EA, Wang, YX, Edgar, JM, Durland, LJ et al.. Sex-biased human thymic architecture guides T cell development through spatially defined niches. Dev Cell. 2025.60 (1)152-169.e8 PMID:39383865
Younesi, FS, Miller, AE, Barker, TH, Rossi, FMV, Hinz, B. Author Correction: Fibroblast and myofibroblast activation in normal tissue repair and fibrosis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2024.25 (8)671 PMID:38740927
Stankiewicz, LN, Rossi, FMV, Zandstra, PW. Rebuilding and rebooting immunity with stem cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2024.31 (5)597-616 PMID:38593798
Younesi, FS, Miller, AE, Barker, TH, Rossi, FMV, Hinz, B. Fibroblast and myofibroblast activation in normal tissue repair and fibrosis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2024.25 (8)617-638 PMID:38589640
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