khanh-duong@uiowa.edu
Mentor: Dana Levasseur, Ph.D
Lab Room: 3256 CBRB
Lab Phone: 319-384-4608

Re-directing differentiated cells toward Hematopoietic Cell Fate

Blood disorders can be life threatening and need immediate treatment. However, treatment options are still limited due to immune rejection and suitable matched donors. Thus, our goal is to establish a safe, effective, and translatable strategy for treating hematologic disease using patient specific cell-based therapy. We are focusing in on transcriptional factors and epigenetic modifiers that will efficiently and effectively reprogram cells to become hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC). We hypothesize that specific key regulators will be sufficient to give raise to HSPC. Subsequently, HSPC will be transplanted into blood disorder mice to determine the functionality and stability of these cells.