Partner Profile

The goal of our laboratory is to cover novel ground on mechanisms that maintain HSC quiescence. We have recently performed an extensive multi-layered OMICs analysis of HSCs and four progenitor populations (MPP1-MPP4) by combining DNA-methylome, whole-transcriptome and global proteome analyses. Our work identified exclusive gene expression clusters as potential gatekeepers of HSC self-renewal such as splicing variants, long non-coding RNAs and retinoic acid metabolism. Furthermore, we have observed that particular dietary habits influence the balance between HSC maintenance and differentiation, findings which pave the way to new fundamental and yet unsolved questions. In the future, we aim to investigate the impact of different nutritional regimes on HSC maintenance and to analyze the underlying regulatory mechanisms. Our ultimate goal is to translate these findings into human disease settings such as dietary deficiencies and leukemia. To address these biological questions, we are pursuing interdisciplinary projects which include the use of second-generation mouse models, bone marrow imaging in combination with state-of-the-art population and single-cell OMICs analysis.