Vittorio Sartorelli, M.D.

Senior Investigator

Laboratory of Muscle Stem Cells and Gene Regulation

NIAMS

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Building 50, Room 1351
50 South Drive
Bethesda, MD 20814

301-435-8145

sartorev@mail.nih.gov

Research Topics

The Laboratory of Muscle Stem Cells & Gene Regulation focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating specification, differentiation, and regeneration of skeletal muscle cells. The objective is to provide a conceptual and practical framework contributing to the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases affecting skeletal muscles. Specific areas of investigation are: 1) transcriptional control of the regulatory circuitries involved in different aspects of adult muscle stem cell biology, 2) functional relation of metabolites and epigenetic modifications impacting adult muscle stem cell biology, 3) role of non-coding RNAs in skeletal muscle biology.

Biography

Dr. Vittorio Sartorelli received his M.D. from the University of Brescia, Italy and completed a residency in oncology at the University of Milan, Italy. He joined the Genetics Department and the Department of Medicine of the Stanford University for his postdoctoral education. In 1993, he joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California as an Assistant Professor. In 1999, he was recruited to head the Muscle Gene Expression Group within the Laboratory of Muscle Biology of the Intramural Program at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) within the National Institutes of Health. He is currently the Chief of the Laboratory of Muscle Stem Cells & Gene Regulation and the NIAMS Deputy Scientific Director.

Selected Publications

  1. Dell'Orso S, Juan AH, Ko KD, Naz F, Perovanovic J, Gutierrez-Cruz G, Feng X, Sartorelli V. Single cell analysis of adult mouse skeletal muscle stem cells in homeostatic and regenerative conditions. Development. 2019;146(12).
  2. Tsai PF, Dell'Orso S, Rodriguez J, Vivanco KO, Ko KD, Jiang K, Juan AH, Sarshad AA, Vian L, Tran M, Wangsa D, Wang AH, Perovanovic J, Anastasakis D, Ralston E, Ried T, Sun HW, Hafner M, Larson DR, Sartorelli V. A Muscle-Specific Enhancer RNA Mediates Cohesin Recruitment and Regulates Transcription In trans. Mol Cell. 2018;71(1):129-141.e8.
  3. García-Prat L, Perdiguero E, Alonso-Martín S, Dell'Orso S, Ravichandran S, Brooks SR, Juan AH, Campanario S, Jiang K, Hong X, Ortet L, Ruiz-Bonilla V, Flández M, Moiseeva V, Rebollo E, Jardí M, Sun HW, Musarò A, Sandri M, Del Sol A, Sartorelli V, Muñoz-Cánoves P. FoxO maintains a genuine muscle stem-cell quiescent state until geriatric age. Nat Cell Biol. 2020;22(11):1307-1318.
  4. Ciuffoli V, Feng X, Jiang K, Acevedo-Luna N, Ko KD, Wang AHJ, Riparini G, Khateb M, Glancy B, Dell'Orso S, Sartorelli V. Psat1-generated α-ketoglutarate and glutamine promote muscle stem cell activation and regeneration. Genes Dev. 2024;38(3-4):151-167.
  5. Ryall JG, Dell'Orso S, Derfoul A, Juan A, Zare H, Feng X, Clermont D, Koulnis M, Gutierrez-Cruz G, Fulco M, Sartorelli V. The NAD(+)-dependent SIRT1 deacetylase translates a metabolic switch into regulatory epigenetics in skeletal muscle stem cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2015;16(2):171-83.

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This page was last updated on Thursday, September 10, 2026