Christina Pacak, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Advising Statement: Here

Research Interests:

Christina Pacak joined the University of Minnesota faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Neurology Department in Winter 2021. Her laboratory investigates mechanisms that lead to mitochondrial dysfunction in a variety of disease settings including cardiomyopathies, muscular dystrophies, and premature aging disorders associated with neurological dysfunction. Her research program uses differentiated patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and various in vivo models to test adeno-associated virus (AAV) mediated gene delivery systems.

Publications

  • Maguina M, Kang PB, Tsai AC, Pacak CA. Peripheral neuropathies associated with DNA repair disorders. Muscle Nerve. 2023 Feb;67(2):101-110.
  • Vargas-Franco D, Kalra R, Draper I, Pacak CA, Asakura A, Kang PB. The Notch signaling pathway in skeletal muscle health and disease. Muscle Nerve. 2022 Nov;66(5):530-544.
  • Bruels CC, Littel HR, Daugherty AL, Stafki S, Estrella EA, McGaughy ES, Truong D, Badalamenti JP, Pais L, Ganesh VS, O'Donnell-Luria A, Stalker HJ, Wang Y, Collins C, Behlmann A, Lemmers RJLF, van der Maarel SM, Laine R, Ghosh PS, Darras BT, Zingariello CD, Pacak CA, Kunkel LM, Kang PB. Diagnostic capabilities of nanopore long-read sequencing in muscular dystrophy. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2022 Aug;9(8):1302-1309.
  • Tsai AC, Pacak CA. Bioprocessing of human mesenchymal stem cells: From planar culture to microcarrier-based bioreactors. Bioengineering (Basel). 2021 Jul 7;8(7):96.
  • Li C, Vargas-Franco D, Saha M, Davis RM, Manko KA, Draper I, Pacak CA, Kang PB. Megf10 deficiency impairs skeletal muscle stem cell migration and muscle regeneration. FEBS Open Bio. 2021 Jan;11(1):114-123.
  • Watanabe N, Kitada K, Santostefano KE, Yokoyama A, Waldrop SM, Heldermon CD, Tachibana D, Koyama M, Meacham AM, Pacak CA, Terada N. Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells from a female patient with a Xq27.3-q28 deletion to establish disease models and identify therapies. Cell Reprogram. 2020 Aug;22(4):179-188.
  • Barton ER, Pacak CA, Stoppel WL, Kang PB.The ties that bind: functional clusters in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. Skelet Muscle. 2020 Jul 29;10(1):22.
  • Suzuki-Hatano S, Saha M, Soustek MS, Kang PB, Byrne BJ, Cade WT, Pacak CA. AAV9-TAZ gene replacement ameliorates cardiac TMT proteomic profiles in a mouse model of Barth Syndrome. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, Volume 13, 2019, Pages 167-179, ISSN 2329-0501, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2019.01.007.
Picture of Christina Pacak