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The
Biology of
Stem Cells
and Cancer
We are investigating the mechanisms that regulate stem cell function in the nervous and hematopoietic systems. Hematopoietic stem cells, which give rise to all blood and immune system cells, and neural stem cells, which give rise to the central and peripheral nervous systems, are among the best-characterized stem cells. Many fundamental questions remain, however, regarding the mechanisms that regulate their functions. Our goal is to integrate what we know about stem cells in different tissues to understand the extent to which they employ similar or different mechanisms to regulate critical functions. We have focused on the mechanisms that regulate stem cell self-renewal and stem cell aging because these processes encompass fundamental questions in cell and developmental biology. Since cancer cells hijack these self-renewal mechanisms, we also evaluate the role these mechanisms play in cancer.
