Our commentary on stem cell aging in out now in Blood. In which we discuss a new research article that sheds light on the role of niche cells in hematopoietic stem cell aging. The Trowbridge lab reveals that a reduction in signals from mesenchymal stromal cells is in part responsible for the impaired hematopoiesis that occurs during aging. Yet a big open question remains: are the age-related changes to HSCs due to aged niche cells directly, or due to changes in cell-cell communication to HSCs mediated by systemic factors.

Our collaborative study just published in Clinical & Experimental Metastasis describes “a new Neu” — a syngeneic model of spontaneously metastatic HER2‑positive breast cancer. This model offers us the ability to ask fascinating questions of the metastatic TME… watch this space for more to come soon! This was a large collaboration led by the lab of Evanthia Roussos Torres working closely with Jesse and Yingtong in our lab, plus contributions from others labs at Johns Hopkins.

Congratulations to Riddhee Mehta who has been awarded a USC SURF fellowship to continue her research in the lab over the summer. Riddhee is a QBIO student working towards a Masters degree in Quantitative and Computational Biology while working in the lab on a project that studies the dynamics of EMT, co-mentored by MeiLu. Riddhee’s research has already led to new insights into EMT intermediate state dynamics.

Through theory, simulation, and inference we have shown that stem cell variation leading to clonal hematopoiesis in later life (over 65 years old) is likely present before birth. Read more on twitter or bioRxiv. Led by Jesse in collaboration with Jazlyn Mooney in QCB and Darryl Shibata in Keck.

At our annual retreat for the Dept of Quantitative and Computational Biology in Ventura, overlooking the beach, Xiaojun gave a talk on his research entitled “Data-driven model discovery for complex biological systems.”