Wade Anderson, Grad Student |
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Asymmetric cell division is an essential tool in the development and maintenance of cellular diversity. Engraftment studies in mice have indicated that each cell in the hematopoietic compartment can be derived from a single, undifferentiated precursor cell, called a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC). While retrospective analysis provides support for the idea that HSC and their downstream progenitors undergo asymmetric division, such an event has never been directly and indisputably documented. A main goal of my research is to use fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy of dividing hematopoietic cells to clearly document asymmetric |
| divisions of primitive hematopoietic cells. Because HSC represent ~0.01-0.05% of bone marrow cells and are relatively quiescent, approaches such as cytokine-induced mobilization of HSC and FACS isolation of cells with 3-4N DNA content are being explored as a means to increase and enrich the number of dividing HSC. My goals include the identification and characterization of asymmetrically sorted cellular components, elucidation of the mechanism by which sorting occurs in hematopoietic cells and the identification of phenotypic differences between hematopoietic subsets. |
