Stem Cell Fate

Welcome to the Ito Lab!

The central research goal of the Ito Lab is the expansion of our understanding of the regulatory pathways controlling the equilibrium of healthy and malignant hematopoietic stem cells

At the core of our work is the process of stem cell division, and the resulting balance between self-renewal and differentiation, which directly impacts tissue homeostasis. We are also devoting increased attention to targeting cellular metabolism and/or mitochondrial physiology as a therapeutic strategy and are cutting a path along the leading edge of research into the role of epigenetic-microRNA crosstalk, including physiologically relevant Ten-eleven translocation, in the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndrome. We believe our expertise in stem cell biology, hematology, and the bone marrow microenvironment, combined with our development of single cell approaches and live imaging to track stem cell fate in vivo and leukocyte behavior in sickle cell disease animal models, will facilitate major contributions to the improvement of transplantation efficiency and the development of new therapies and treatments, and potentially even cures, for many forms of hematologic pathology.