Our Research
Investigating the role of GATA2 and of variants of unkown significance in mediating stem cell fitness, disease onset and disease progression in GATA2 deficiency
Our team is using various techniques including CRISPR F0 screens, in situ hybridization, live imaging, single cell genomics, cell models of GATA2 loss to study the mechanisms underlying blood stem cell fitness and disease progression in GATA2 deficiency, a rare bone marrow failure sydrome predisposing to leukaemia at a very young age.
We are also developing novel in vivo and in vitro assays to determine pathogenicity of GATA2 variants with the goal to inform clinical decisions on treatment for these patients, and developing screening platforms that aim to test novel therapies to improve stem cell function in these patients. This work is funded by The Azaylia Foundation and the LifeArc Centre for Rare Diseases.
Regulating blood stem cell emergence
We are investigating novel players in the TFGbeta and Notch signalling pathways that help shape the emergence of blood stem cells in the embryo.
We have several projects in this area, so get in touch if you're interested!
We want to shed new light on the underlying mechanisms of blood stem cell formation and identify better ways to generate stem cells in vitro for transplantation.
Epigenetic regulation of lineage fate by histone deacetylases
We are using chemical inhibitors, CRISPR technology, in situ hybridization, live imaging of transgenic zebrafish and single cell genomics to study how the haematopoietic and endothelial lineages are specified and maintained during development. A better understanding of this process will help improve the generation of blood stem cells in vitro for transplantation. This work is funded by the British Heart Foundation.
