Girard Lab
Principal Investigator: Juliet Girard
Institution: University of Massachusetts Boston (Boston, MA)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Project Summary/Abstract: Tissue homeostasis requires the precise control of the development of differentiated cell types from multipotent stem and progenitor cells (SPCs). This balance is regulated by signals originating from multi-tissue niches or SPCs themselves, which affect SPC development. Increasing data supports that these normal developmental processes can be aided or disrupted by inflammatory signal transduction pathways. While prior studies using whole animal knockouts identified the role of inflammatory signaling pathways in HSPC differentiation, open questions remain about the relative contributions of specific cell types to the observed phenotypes and the downstream targets of these pathways. The proposed research program uses the Drosophila melanogaster blood system as a model to address unresolved questions about how multiple cell types found within SPC niches use inflammatory signaling pathways to control the balance between SPCs and differentiated cells during homeostatic development and after injury. As blood SPCs differentiate they make fate choices between alternate paths of development, specifically between distinct intermediate and differentiated cell types,…
Active NIH Awards
- 1R35GM162263-01: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of stem and progenitor cell development during homeostasis and after injury (2026)
- 1R15HL177689-01: Dissecting the mechanisms through which Wnt5 signaling influences hematopoiesis (2025)
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