"Epigenetic regulation of mammalian embryonic hematopoiesis by Tet enzymes"
Year: 2020
Institution: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Principal Investigator: Dr. Meelad Dawlaty
Research Category: Basic Science
Hematopoiesis is the process of formation of blood cells. Aberrant hematopoiesis is linked to many human diseases including cancers. Blood stem and progenitor cells are derived from specialized cells (endothelial cells) during development. This process is tightly regulated by various molecules that fine-tune expression of blood-making genes. Our work investigates how addition and removal of methyl molecules on DNA (i.e. DNA methylation and demethylation) promote activation or silencing of blood making genes in endothelial cells and regulate hematopoiesis. Our findings will help us better understand hematopoiesis at the molecular level. This will have implications in various human blood disorders/cancers and could enhance efforts to generate blood cells from pluripotent stem cells for clinical applications.
The above project description has been supplied by the Principal Investigator