Developmental origins and niches of the haematopoietic system

A single faulty gene, Runx1, derails the embryo's first blood stem cells and later reappears in a quarter of all acute leukaemias. Blood stem cells, or haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), are the body's lifelong factory for red and white blood cells. When they first emerge in the embryo, a transcription factor called Runx1 must switch on the right genes at the right time. If it fails, no HSCs form. In adults, mutations in the human version, RUNX1, are found in roughly 25% of acute leukaemias—a direct link between a developmental switch and adult cancer. This project aims to map exactly which genes Runx1 controls in the embryo, and which molecular pathways control Runx1 itself. The researchers will identify the full network of interactions that turns a generic embryonic cell into a durable, self-renewing HSC. This is fundamental science. There is no immediate clinical application. But understanding how a single transcription factor orchestrates the birth of blood stem cells—and how its disruption leads to leukaemia—could eventually reveal new drug targets or strategies to grow HSCs in the lab for transplant therapies. Past discoveries in developmental haematopoiesis have already transformed bone marrow transplantation; this work digs deeper into the root cause.