Synchronized tissue regeneration
The skin presents a fascinating organ - it never stop growing and renewing. Intriguingly, epithelial stem cells evolve in a way that restricts their regenerative potential to their own family of cells, and these are largely non-interchangeable. However, following injury, these stem cell populations display remarkable plasticity and can switch their fate to re-establish tissue integrity.
Elucidating how stem cell usage is controlled and maintained during normal tissue development and in response to injury and stress is a fundamental prerequisite to understanding why tissues lose their capacity to repair wounds and become tumor-prone with age. As an exceptionally rapidly renewing tissue, the skin provides an ideal system in which to dissect the complex interactions between stem cells with their neighbors.
We seek to understand the cellular networks that drive and constrain stem cell activity and elucidating how environmental cues are interpreted to guide stem cell behavior. Our ultimate goal is to harness stem cell regenerative potential to develop new strategies for precise tissue repair.
In the image
3-dimensional image of hair follicles during the hair follicle stem cell resting phase (telogen), as captured using confocal microscope of whole mount cleared skin tissue.
Hair follicle stem cells are represented in magenta and the lymphatic capillary network in green.
How stem cell interaction with their environment regulates stem cell identity and plasticity?
When an epidermal injury occurs, stem cells exit their homeostatic niche zone and migrate to fuel tissue regeneration and repair. Upon transplantation, engrafted hair follicle stem cells can participate in the generation of the interfollicular epidermis, sebaceous glands, and the hair follicle, further illustrating the importance of local niches in dictating stem cell identity and plastic behavior.
Elucidating how stem cell-niche interactions change in injury and how this profoundly affects stem cell identity and plasticity could open new horizons for wound therapeutics and extend our ability to harness stem cell plasticity and activation for tissue repair.
In the image
3-dimensional image of hair follicles during hair regeneration (anagen), as captured using confocal microscope of whole mount cleared skin tissue.
Cell nuclei are represented in blue, the transcription factor Sox9 is represented in orange, and the cell adhesion glycoprotein P-Cadherin in magenta.
How tumor-initiating stem cells shape their microenvironment?
The exact nature of the interactions between stem cells and the microenvironment that govern tumor initiation, metastatic seeding, survival, and resistance to chemotherapy remains elusive.
Our goal is to reveal important functions for cancer stem cell-niche integration and unveil its impact during chemotherapy resistance in order to advance cancer stem cell specific therapeutics.
In the image
3-dimensional image of human basal cell carcinoma, as captured using confocal microscope of whole mount cleared human skin lesions.
Cell nuclei are represented in blue, the intermediate filament Keratin 14 is represented in green, and immune cells in red.