Through differentiation, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) give rise to all the mature blood cells in circulation, including the broadly speaking myeloid lineages (red blood cells, platelets, macrophages and neutrophils etc.) and the lymphoid lineages (B cells, T cells, NK cells). Somewhere in the differentiation pathway, a single hematopoietic progenitor cell has to make the fate choice whether it is to become a myeloid cell, or a lymphoid cell. How is that fate choice made? Can we tap into this control mechanism and command a hematopoietic stem or progenitor cell to become the cell type we need?
Our lab is an integral member of the Yale Cooperative Center of Excellence in Hematology (YCCEH), Yale's research community around the broad topics of normal and malignant hematopoiesis.