Dr. Urmas Roostalu teadustöö eesmärgiks on selgitada rakkude plastilisuse ja varase differentseerumise molekulaarseid mehhanisme ning seda, kuidase neid saab kasutada erinevate kudede regeneratsioonis. Oluliseks uurimistöö suunaks on olnud lihasrakkude vigastuste molekulaarne analüüs ja tüvirakuteraapia arendamine Duchenne’I lihasdüstroofia raviks. Viimaste aastate teadustöö on aga rohkem keskendunud ka veresoontega seotud eellasrakkude avastamisele ja kirjeldamisele, kuna veresooned loovad organismis sobiva rakkude plastilisust soosiva keskonna. Nende rakkude parem kirjeldamine võib luua uudseid võimalusi veresoonkonna haiguste raviks, kuid ka nende rakkude suunamiseks muude kudede regeneratsiooni parandamiseks.

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2014, Urmas Roostalu, Suurbritannia Biotehnoloogia ja Bioloogiliste Teaduste Nõukogu isiklik uurimistoetus kolmeks aastaks (Tuleviku Liidri Teaduspreemia, £294,000)

2007, Urmas Roostalu, Boehringer Ingelheimi fondi doktorandistipendium

ETIS KLASSIFIKAATOR: 1. Bio- ja keskkonnateadused; 1.3. Geneetika; CERCS KLASSIFIKAATOR: B220 Geneetika, tsütogeneetika ; TÄPSUSTUS: Tüvirakud, rakkude differentseerumine

ETIS KLASSIFIKAATOR: 3. Terviseuuringud; 3.1. Biomeditsiin; CERCS KLASSIFIKAATOR: B726 Kliiniline bioloogia ; TÄPSUSTUS: Lihasdüstroofia diagnostika ja ravi

ETIS KLASSIFIKAATOR: 1. Bio- ja keskkonnateadused; 1.3. Geneetika; CERCS KLASSIFIKAATOR: B220 Geneetika, tsütogeneetika ; TÄPSUSTUS: Arengubioloogia, lihaste ja veresoonkonna areng

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Dr. Urmas Roostalu is British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Future Leader fellow at the University of Manchester. He received BSc (2002) and MSc (2004) degrees in Biology from the University of Tartu, Estonia. He was awarded Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation fellowship to continue PhD studies at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Under the guidance of Prof. Uwe Strähle his studies in Heidelberg and at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology focused on skeletal muscle regeneration in zebrafish. He developed novel methods to inflict microscopic membrane lesions to muscle cells by high-precision laser beams in order to study the molecular injury response in real time. Urmas was awarded PhD in 2011. His postdoctoral training in the group of Prof. Frederic Geissmann at King’s College London (2011-2013) was targeting the molecular regulation of immune response in flies and humans. In 2013 he joined the group of Prof. Giulio Cossu at the University College London and since 2014 at the University of Manchester to focus on the biology of vascular and skeletal muscle cells and on stem cell therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He was awarded BBSRC Anniversary Future Leader fellowship, which he started in February, 2015. Urmas is interested in the role that cellular plasticity plays in organ development, maintenance and regeneration. Using complex transgenic mouse models his research is aimed at revealing the extent to which perivascular cells contribute to the growth and homeostasis of diverse organs. He is also working on the principal molecular mechanisms of early cell differentiation.

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2014, Urmas Roostalu, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Anniversary Future Leader Fellowship. 3 year research grant of £294,000.

2007, Urmas Roostalu, Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation PhD Fellowship

ETIS CLASSIFICATION: 1. Biosciences and Environment; 1.3. Genetics; CERCS CLASSIFICATION: B220 Genetics, cytogenetics ; SPECIFICATION: Stem cell research, Cell differentiation

ETIS CLASSIFICATION: 3. Health; 3.1. Biomedicine; CERCS CLASSIFICATION: B726 Clinical biology ; SPECIFICATION: Molecular diagnostics and therapies for muscular dystrophies

ETIS CLASSIFICATION: 1. Biosciences and Environment; 1.3. Genetics; CERCS CLASSIFICATION: B220 Genetics, cytogenetics ; SPECIFICATION: Developmental biology (skeletal muscles, vasculature)