Transcriptional regulation of hematopoietic self-renewal, lineage specification and leukemogenesis

Every day, a single blood stem cell in the bone marrow must decide whether to become a red blood cell, a white blood cell, or a platelet—and in leukaemia, that decision goes wrong. This project investigates how the body’s own molecular signals control that choice, and whether those same signals can be used to either accelerate or block the development of blood cancers. The problem is that while we know leukaemia arises when stem cells stop maturing properly, we do not fully understand which natural signals push them toward cancer versus healthy blood production. The researchers will use molecules that normally ramp up white or red blood cell production to see if they can speed up or slow down leukaemia in the lab. This is fundamental science. If it succeeds, it will reveal the precise molecular switches that govern stem cell fate—knowledge that could eventually guide therapies that nudge cancerous stem cells back toward normal development. Past discoveries in blood stem cell biology have already led to bone marrow transplants and targeted leukaemia drugs; this work aims to fill in the wiring diagram that makes those treatments possible.