Haemopoietic self renewal and differentiation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Pharmacological investigation of haemopoietic self renewal and differentiation
IRAS ID
223773
Contact name
Tony Whetton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research Governance office University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Hematopoiesis (the production of blood cells) is a precisely regulated hierarchical process the foundation of which is the hematopoietic stem cell. These stem cells are capable of reproducing themselves (a process termed self renewal) or undergoing differentiation to form any/all of the mature blood cells each with their specific function. Numerous diseases such as inborn errors of metabolism, anaemia and cancers mean these haemopoietic stem cells are required for bone marrow transplantation. Understanding their biology is central to widening their use for cellular therapies. The processes of self-renewal and differentiation are complex meaning it is extremely difficult to expand these stem cells in the laboratory. Studying these hematopoietic stem cells in the laboratory provides opportunity to develop methods for stem cell population expansion. Using cutting edge technologies we have identified molecular processes that may regulate normal stem cell biology which are also disrupted in the myeloid leukaemias. We now need to interfere with these pathways in stem cells using drugs and other systems to investigate their effects on stem cell self-renewal, cell survival and differentiation. The investigation of these pathways will allow an assessment of their potential as targets for modifying methods to produce hematopoietic stem cells. We propose to use haemopoietic stem cells that are captured in leukocyte cone filters used by the NHS Blood and Transplant service as a by-product of blood donation for our studies.
REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0888
Date of REC Opinion
19 May 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion