Laboratory of Stem Cells, Tissue Development and Regeneration

Unveiling fundamental biological processes in adult stem cells regulation is important, since stem cells are not only required for physiological tissue or organ self-renewal but also play critical role during their regeneration after injury. Therefore understanding a precise regulation of adult stem cells homeostasis is very crucial since deregulation of stem cells self-renewal might result in organ failure or tumor formation. Thus, further discovery of the molecular factors tightly governing intrinsic balance of signaling pathways in stem cells is very important question in regenerative medicine and one of the goals of my laboratory. This knowledge might be very essential to understand a common mechanism of stem cells homeostasis and tissue regeneration and might be useful to adopt these basic discoveries to novel form of stem cell therapies in human. To address it, my laboratory will use independent skin stem cells from hair, sweat glands and nails as a model to decipher their molecular mechanism of regulation and their properties during skin, hair and limb/digit regeneration. Dissecting the underlying similarities and differences which occur during distinct skin appendages renewal may prove highly beneficial in unraveling the fundamental principles which govern tissue or organ regeneration in vivo.