Michael Milyavsky joined the hematology and stem cells field in 2006, and he has been an ISEH member for the last 5 years. His areas of expertise include hematopoietic stem cells, DNA damage response and regulation of normal and leukemic stem cells after genotoxic injury. Michael earned his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology in 2005 and has been a Principal Investigator at Tel Aviv University, Israel since 2012. In May 2017, Michael gained tenure at the Department of Pathology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

Since the beginning of my scientific career, I have focused on revealing mechanisms responsible for cancer initiation and progression. My initial research was conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science under the supervision of Prof. Varda Rotter where I established and characterized an in-vitro model of stepwise malignant transformation in human cells. To deepen my understanding of stem cell biology and leukemogenesis I joined Dr. John E. Dick at the Ontario Cancer Institute, and together we provided definitive insights into the DNA damage response of highly purified human Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

Driven by the urgent need to better understand mechanisms responsible for human leukemia relapse after therapy, I focus my current research on the leukemia stem cells including novel strategies for their isolation, characterization and targeting. Additional line of research in my lab focuses on normal stem cells and their crosstalk with bone marrow cells in the context of injury.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

I was introduced to the ISEH in 2013 and after learning that the meeting will take place in a lovely city of Vienna, Austria, I decided to take a chance and submitted an abstract. Luckily, the abstract was selected for the oral presentation at the meeting. Since then I try to attend every ISEH conference. I feel that this venue provides me with a comprehensive overview of the latest development in our field and equally important provides excellent opportunity for networking and scientific discussions.  

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab?

I want to provide my students with the freedom to formulate their own research hypotheses, and to design the most informative experiments that can prove or disprove them. I try to create the most nurturing atmosphere in our laboratory by working individually with every student and giving her/him their very own project that they can master.  I also make effort to be there in case they need my assistance and support. I am still mastering my mentoring style, and learn much from my students. Although this approach does not work perfectly for everybody, I believe it allows the best realization of the students’ potential to become a scientist.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

I find that understanding of the ways hematopoietic stem cells made their fate related decisions (e.g. self-renewal vs. differentiation, quiescence vs cycling) is very interesting. Currently, single cell tissue culture assays combined with powerful single cell genomics can provide answer to these questions. I think that the collective efforts to sequence blood cancer genomes and decode their chromatin will provide the hematology community with novel regulators of both normal and malignant hematopoiesis.  Deciphering their function in stem cell biology will be very exciting.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

I am very keen to find molecules that can protect human HSCs from DNA-damage induced injury. To find those we try to reveal stem cell autonomous and environment produced signals that impinge on their function after the stress. Although the progress is slow we already discovered one mechanism that helps HSCs to withstand radiation-induced apoptosis. However, to our surprise this protection lasted for several days and then vanished away. So it seems that HSCs somehow remember that they were damaged. It will be gratifying to understand the mechanism of this “childhood trauma memory”, and to find ways to mitigate it.   

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

ISEH keeps me updated on the most advanced studies and exciting discoveries made in the field.

What are your hobbies?

Reading, cooking with friends, sightseeing

What is your favorite book?

Professional: “Microbe Hunters” by Paul de Kruif, but personal is “Peace and War” by Leo Tolstoy.

What is your favorite movie?

“All About My Mother” by Pedro Almodóvar.

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Leonardo da Vinci is definitely someone whose work as an artist and a scientist fascinate me a lot. I really admire the level of his curiosity and imagination. It would be lovely to entertain one another by discussing the latest scientific discoveries and watching Leonardo’s reaction. If I would be given a chance to do that, you will learn about it on this website.

Roi Gazit, a member of the ISEH Publications committee, has been in the hematology and stem cells scientific field for 11 years, and an ISEH member recently. His areas of expertise include immunology, hematopoietic stem cells, gene expression, and developmental biology. Roi earned his PhD in Immunology in 2008 and opened his lab at the Ben-Gurion University on 2013. His lab is part of the Shraga Segal department of Microbiology Immunology and Genetics; he is also a member of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. His group is located at Be'er-Sheva, Israel.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

My academic interest during undergrad and Master studies were is developmental biology, but then I realized that the immune system is of greater interest as it continuously developing throughout life. During PhD my focus was on Natural Killer (NK) cells, which have the fascinating ability to identify hazardous cells within our own body, and protect us from viral-infected and cancerous cells. Moving on for PostDoc I found the new laboratory of Derrick J. Rossi most interesting, personally and scientifically. Studying Hematopoietic Stem Cells let you work with the best of immunology, developmental biology, and Adult Stem Cells. Doing it with brilliant people is a continuous challenge and pleasure.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

I have heard about the ISEH long ago, and followed publications for a while, but it was truly recently that I got introduced by two good friends: Michael Milsom and Michael Milyavsky. Both got me to join the last ISEH meeting seriously, not just as a visitor, and it was totally worth for it.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

Mentoring is an ongoing challenge. I think that as a PI this is my most important role, and I try to learn and improve. First, I got outstanding examples from my PhD and PostDoc mentors. Second, I truly believe that having scientific enthusiasm is the single most important ingredient for it. Third, I am fortunate to have special students that are teaching me how to do mentoring better. Fourth, letting new investigators to do things on their own way – and discovering own potency – is something I believe will pay on the long-term.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

We are fortunate to live in a most exciting scientific era, when so many aspects progress so fast! I find great interest in reprogramming, as it is revealing multiple routes and mechanisms that can allow unprecedented regenerative treatments. Reprogramming towards HSCs is currently taking three major routes: as direct-differentiation from pluripotent cells, trans-differentiation from endothelial or other cell types, and direct-reprogramming from blood cells. Each route is bringing exciting finding- and together there is realistic hope to help patients in need.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

Splicing in HSCs is pretty exciting for us – we were able to map the whole transcriptome splicing recently and working on single-cell resolution currently. The expression of genes determine cellular function and identity. Most of our genes consist of multiple exons, and may express more than one transcript; however, until recently transcriptome analysis was largely limited to the coarse level of calling just one transcript per gene. Mapping whole-transcriptome splicing revealed already novel transcripts, and offer an accessible resource for everyone to find better information on your gene of interest in HSCs. We are zooming in for single-cell resolution of splicing in mouse and in human, keeping in mind that aberrant splicing was found to associate with MDS and Leukemia.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

ISEH is most valuable for it members, including many of the leaders of the field, and many more that are surely to become leaders. It brings scientist who love experimental hematology together.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

For several good reasons: first, scientifically it is probably the best annual meeting in the field- with good focus and many of the best scientist in the world. Second, it is not too-big so you have the chance to get into most lectures and to gain personal connections that are hard to obtain on larger occasions. Third, it is having an outstanding open scientific spirit- people do share ideas with friends openly which is notable nowadays.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

My best memory was in 2017 in Frankfurt, the meeting was running the whole day long from early morning till evening. Nevertheless, most participants just continued informally going to one pub and moving on to another till very late night – and all that time talking on most recent scientific issues. ISEH somehow brought together a group of people so deeply interested in hematopoiesis that no one could have stopped it.

What are your hobbies?

Books, hiking, cooking and Coffee

What are 2 of your your favorite books?

“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, and "The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

What is your favorite movies?

Pulp Fiction

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Sabine R. Florence, for she was a true pioneer scientifically and personally. Some of her studies were so ahead of time that they are still not solved (including tuberculosis, and the angioblast-hematopoietic transition).

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

During my PhD, I worked under the guidance of Dr Sophie Ezine (Paris, France), a former post-doc of Irving Weissman. During that time, I became fascinated by the process of cell fate commitment that must occur for HSCs to become mature blood cells. Following my PhD, I pursued my interest in cell fate commitment in hematopoiesis by doing my post-doctoral research in the group of Dr Georges Lacaud (Manchester, UK) where I worked on embryonic hematopoiesis. There, I studied the transcriptional regulation of the endothelial to hematopoietic transition, the process by which hematopoietic stem cells emerge during embryonic development.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

I was introduced to the ISEH during my post-doctoral research. I was told that it was a very nice and supportive organization. Moreover, I heard praise about the conferences it organizes. They are always great opportunities to network and learn about the latest research on hematology.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

I think that it is very important to encourage people in my lab to give their opinion about their project and share their ideas with me. I encourage them to express their opinion in a logical way and to be able to support it with sound arguments. Moreover, I tell them to not be afraid of their ignorance because that’s what we don’t know which motivates us to ask questions and make progress in our research.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

One of the most exciting aspects of the field at the moment is for me is about how HSCs develop into mature blood cells. Most of our knowledge on their functional capacities (multipotency and self-renewal capacity) comes from transplantation in irradiated mice. However, new technologies such as single cell RNA sequencing, in vivo lineage tracing or the use of non-irradiated hosts start to depict a much more complex picture of the process of differentiation of HSCs into mature blood cells than we previously thought. It clearly shows that there are many exciting discoveries yet to come about the HSCs differentiation process.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

One of our most exciting studies concerns the transcriptional control of the endothelial to hematopoietic transition. For this transition to be successful, it is crucial to switch off the endothelial cell fate and switch on the blood program and generate blood stem cells. Using single cell RNA sequencing and gene regulatory network analysis, we have been able to reveal how the activity of key transcription factors needs to be regulated for the transition to be successful. Currently, we are further dissecting the function of these transcription factors to better understand blood stem cell production during embryonic development.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

ISEH is a great organization for networking and learn about the latest findings in hematology.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

I attend the ISEH meeting to able to meet people of my field and find out of their most exciting discoveries.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

My best memory was in 2017 in Frankfurt when by chance I found myself sitting next to Irving Weissman during dinner. His research has been extremely influential to me and it was great to have the opportunity to talk to him for the first time. It was incredible to see such enthusiasm for science in someone who has already achieved so much in his career. It was truly inspiring!

What are your hobbies?

Reading, hiking, cinema.

What is your favorite book?

“Guns, Germs and Steel” by Jared Diamond.

What is your favorite movie?

“Blade Runner” by Ridley Scott.

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

I would have liked to meet Carl Sagan, an American astronomer, because of the great work he was doing as a science popularizer. This is an example that scientists should try to follow to make sure that the largest number of people can understand what we do and the impact our research can have on our society.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?
As a trained pharmacist, I love the fact that stem cell research can in the future be applied in treating human diseases. My favorite example of “stem cells in action” is treatments of chemical eye burns with corneal stem cells (Holoclar) that allow the patients to regain their vision – how exciting is that? In the blood field, recent studies showed a lot of progress towards generating hematopoietic stem cells in vitro, and hopefully this will move towards a clinical trial in the foreseeable future.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?
I am studying hematopoietic aging, so my answer will be very biased! Our lab has recently made a number of exciting discoveries of the mechanisms of HSC aging, including uncovering the roles of replication stress and autophagy in aging-related hematopoietic decline. Given the fact that we all age, the progress in this field has very broad implications.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?
In my opinion, the field has undergone a major change with the development of imaging and transgenic technologies that really accelerated progress in understanding of HSC regulation. Some of the key discoveries that these technologies enabled include understanding of HSC niches, tracking hematopoiesis in native non-transplant conditions, and updated understanding of hematopoietic tree. Moreover, better understanding of developmental hematopoiesis and molecular wiring of HSCs propelled the studies aimed at in vitro HSC generation.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?
I think one of the biggest challenges of the stem cell field at the moment is the negative connotation associated with the terms “stem cells” in the public view. I think we as scientists, need to do more to build bridges with the general public and to make the discoveries more easily understandable. We are working in an amazing field that delivers ground-breaking findings on a monthly basis, and it is important that this knowledge is shared with non-researchers.

How would you describe the funding climate for your specific type of research?
My project lays at the intersection of the hematopoietic field and aging. Unlike some other areas of hematopoietic research, such as blood cancers, there are not much specialized funding available for aging studies. As we now understand that many mechanisms driving blood aging and blood disease are shared, I hope that the climate changes in the new future.

What advice do you have for new investigators entering this scientific field?
As I am still a very junior investigator myself, this is a difficult question to answer. For people just entering the field, I would advise to have patience (there is no way around that four-month post-transplantation time point!) and to stay excited. We are working in the age of great discoveries that are worth waiting for.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
I find ISEH a unique platform for networking, and I think that the Annual Meetings provide a fantastic opportunity to communicate with the peers and to easily access leaders of the field. The members of society are very enthusiastic, and meeting people several times through the years, you create strong scientific and personal bonds. For a young scientist, it is also amazing as a means to get a name recognition – there are a lot of short talks from junior researchers, and you get a lot of feedback,

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?
The structure of the meetings really facilitates participation from young investigators and provides ample networking opportunities. For instance, you can take part in “scientific speed dating” session and talk with Sean Morrison and Ben Ebert, one-on-one during the same night – which other meeting can boast such an event?

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
That is a difficult question, since there are always so many memorable moments during the meetings! If I have to pick, my favorite memory is a social event at the 2012 Amsterdam meeting, a channel cruise followed by a night with live music. We are all very serious in the lab, and it was great to see lead investigators, postdocs and students dancing and having fun together!

What are your hobbies?
Yoga, reading

What is your favorite book?
Roald Dahl short story collection “Kiss kiss”

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russian Empire

Basketball, sailing, traveling, volleyball, water sports

What are your favorite books?

On the soul (Aristotle), Complete work of Epicurus, The Fall (Albert Camus)

What are your favorite movies?

Hannibal, Dark Knight trilogy, Tis kakomoiras (Greek movie)

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Michael Jordan because he was a symbol of devotion (to his passion), perseverance and commitment to improve his weaknesses and return better and better every season on the courts.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

When I entered graduate school, I was interested in aging and stem cell biology was a natural fit for that pursuit. I joined Peggy Goodell’s lab to study hematopoietic stem cells. I chose to stay in the field for two reasons: great science and great people. Despite being the best understood stem cell system, there are still so many interesting questions to pursue in HSC biology. Also important to me was the community. The hematology community is overflowing with collegial scientists who favor collaborative over cutthroat endeavors.

Can you describe your lab or work environment?

We are focused on hematopoietic stem cell biology and RNA processing. The lab is full of diverse set of trainees (PhD students, med students, postdocs, clinical fellows) and collegiality.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

The first Annual ISEH meeting I attended was the 2008 meeting held in Boston. The meeting instantly became one of my favorites due to the great talks and networking. The experience not only made me committed to attending the meeting (I haven’t missed a meeting since!), but also to get involved in the society.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

I was lucky to have great mentors who taught me not only about science, but also the impact of mentoring. To foster my trainees, we have weekly one-on-one meetings to keep me up-to-date, round table-style lab meetings to keep the whole lab up-to-date on each other’s projects, and joint group meetings with other labs to get different perspectives. We also have yearly meetings to discuss career goals to make sure they are on track to accomplish them.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

Myelodysplastic syndrome is a bone marrow failure syndrome arising from hematopoietic stem cell defects. Mutations in spliceosomal components were recently found to be prevalent in MDS, but why these defects lead to disease is unclear. Our lab is using zebrafish to uncover how mutations in spliceosomal factors contribute to hematologic abnormalities and to discover novel therapeutics that selectively target splicing factor-defective cells.

How would you describe the funding climate for your specific type of research?

The key to the health of any financial portfolio is diversity. Although funding is tight, there are many avenues for financial support of biological science including governmental (both at the state and federal levels) and private foundations. To keep things moving, I leave no stone unturned.   

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

Two things I find most valuable about ISEH is the amazing, international community of scientists and the investment in new investigators. It is great how much the views of new investigators are valued to help shape the future of ISEH.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

I attend the ISEH Annual Meeting to hear great science and to network. Unlike some larger meetings, it seems that most presenters show unpublished and new work, which keeps the meeting exciting.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

One word: dancing! Dancing is a great equalizer allowing both senior and junior investigators to let down their hair and have a good time.

What are your hobbies?

Parenting (haha)

What are your favorite books?

Harry Potter series (see answer to question one)

What are your favorite movies?

All things ‘80s

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Hillary Clinton. She is a woman who pushed the envelope and never gave up. Regardless of whether you agree with her politically, she is an inspiration to girls everywhere to feel “deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world”. Even in her loss, she motivates us to keep going and dream bigger.   

Peter Van Galen is currently a postdoc in the lab of Dr. Bradley Bernstein at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute in Boston.

He’s been a member of ISEH since 2012. Peter served on the New Investigators Committee for 4 years and has recently begun his first term on the Publications Committee.

He received his PhD in molecular genetics from the University of Amsterdam under the supervision of Dr. John Dick and Dr. Maarten van Lohuizen.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?
My first exposure to the wet lab was an internship with Dr. Hans Clevers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. During this time, he published the groundbreaking identification of Lgr5 in mouse intestinal stem cells, and seeing this happen was an inspiring introduction to the field of stem cell biology. Dr. Clevers recommended me for a second internship with Dr. John Dick in Toronto, which is where it all started.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?
My first ISEH meeting was in 2012 in Amsterdam. It was great because there were ex-colleagues to catch up with, and more importantly, so many opportunities to connect with new people. The ISEH makes it easy to meet new people with similar interests, regardless of whether they are trainees or senior leaders in the field.

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?
It has been very interesting to be supervised by John Dick during my PhD and Bradley Bernstein during my postdoc. They are both great mentors in different ways. John is an extremely supportive and thoughtful mentor, and he created an environment that made the lab practically feel like family. Brad is involved in all the projects in the lab, gets really excited about original ideas and inspires scientists to undertake and finish transformative projects. It has been very instructive to observe these different styles and think about the aspects that I want to adopt when I run my own lab.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?
I am very excited about applying innovative technologies in smart ways to learn about biology. Our lab is involved in the development of new technologies and bioinformatics, as well as their application to important questions in developmental and cancer biology. For example, there have been major developments in approaches to investigate the function of DNA and histone modifications, chromatin accessibility and topology, and single-cell transcriptomes. If state-of-the-art technologies and computational expertise are used in appropriate models with a good understanding of biology, we can clarify precise epigenetic mechanisms that control normal and malignant tissue hierarchies.

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?
In the past few years, many technologies have really made the transition from technically challenging in cell lines to robust protocols that can be used in primary blood cells (ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, single-cell RNA-seq, and soon Hi-C and ChIA-PET). Combined with sophisticated computational biology, these technologies have the power to transform our understanding of normal hematopoietic stem cells and malignant hematopoiesis. The field will identify new epigenetic mechanisms, links to metabolism, and improve our molecular understanding of the stem cell state. I am curious to see if new general themes will be discovered that are deregulated in leukemia, and looking forward to see results of the many clinical trials involving epigenetic drugs.

How would you describe the funding climate for your specific type of research?
There are many funding opportunities and my research is not impeded by a lack of money (thanks to Brad). However, I would like scientists and funding agencies to think about ways to reduce the amount of time that investigators spend writing grants. If the success rate is 5%, it means that for each project that gets funded, 20 scientists spend weeks on a rejected application. That adds up to a lot of lost time and I think it is possible to improve this process.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
As I mentioned before, the ISEH provides ample opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals at all stages of their careers. It also offers really good ways to stay up to date through webinars, Hematology 101, Experimental Hematology, the annual meeting, etc.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
During the 2015 meeting in Japan, we had a Dick lab reunion where two former Japanese trainees (Hidefumi and Katsuto) took us (John, Michael and me) for an authentic Japanese restaurant experience. I love the exposure to different cultures and it’s even better if you can get locals to show you around.

What are your hobbies? Cycling, rollerblading, guitar, eating.
What is your favorite book? Lord of the Rings.
What are your favorite movies? The Matrix and Star Trek.
If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why? Captain Jean-Luc Picard to apply for a scientist position aboard the Enterprise.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?
Growing up is was afraid of (and simultaneously fascinated about) leukemia. I went to med school to become a hematologist, but found that the current treatment strategies and our knowledge of the disease was insufficient to provide proper care for the patients. I called in to the hematology lab in University of Helsinki and told them I wanted to cure leukemia. They offered a position to study inherited blood coagulation disorders, which I accepted, and that became my PhD project. However, during my post-doctoral training, I was eager to move closer to the “cure for leukemia” and started to study hematopoietic stem cells.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?
Our goal is to understand how to make a self-renewing human hematopoietic stem cell. We have worked hard to identify the sites where HSCs are made, markers to isolate them, culture protocols to maintain their unique properties, and to identify key regulatory mechanisms that govern the identity and function of human HSCs. We finally have clues to the underlying molecular defects that prevent the self-renewal of candidate HSCs that were generated in vitro or expanded in culture. We hope that harnessing these powerful regulators to enable human HSC self-renewal in culture will help provide new sources of HSCs for transplantation.

What advice do you have for new investigators entering this scientific field?
Go after your passion, and do not worry too much in advance about potential failures. The successful scientists are not those for who everything was easy (they don't exist) but those who did not care about rejections and failed grant applications, who kept trying again and never stopped believing in their dreams.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
ISEH is a true community for those interested in hematopoiesis and stem cells. I value especially their dedication to promote young scientists, for example by having a prestigious plenary session for trainee presentations, and for providing many other opportunities for networking with peers and leaders in the field. I find that the ISEH annual meeting is perhaps the most valuable meeting where to send my trainees.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?
I have attended the ISEH meeting every year since I started my own lab in 2005. It is the highlight of the year to meet colleagues and hear about the new trends in the field. Especially for those interested in developmental hematopoiesis, ISEH provides much more than other hematopoiesis/stem cell conferences.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
In 2013, I was awarded the McCulloch and Till award, and the award lecture was the last item in the meeting program. I was so nervous that everyone would have headed home already and I would be speaking for an empty audience. It was so wonderful to see a full lecture hall, and so many friends and colleagues who came to congratulate and tell me that they stayed until the end specifically to listen to my lecture. I was so grateful for the incredible support from ISEH community.

What are your hobbies?
Riding Dressage, I have four horses and they take most of my free time (and money).

What are your favorite books?
Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
This is a big question that would require some thought. However, my first instinct was to say Tina Turner. She is a true power woman with incredible talent and stamina!

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?
I initially trained as a medical oncologist with an interest in malignant hematology. As part of my training, I embarked on a PhD at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, creating retroviral gene transfer mouse models for chronic myeloid leukemia, supervised by Prof Suzanne Cory (who would later be WEHI director). After my PhD, in 1993 I made the critical decision to go to the UK for a post doc, rather than return to the clinical workforce. (aside A decision that my wfe, scientist Dr Elizabeth Ng, rebukes me for on a daily basis!) I worked at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill in London, in the laboratory of Prof Frank Grosveld, where I studied GATA genes and globin regulation. There, I met and worked alongside great scientists including Elaine Dzierzak and Alexander Medvinsky. Returning to Australia in 1995, I initially worked again at WEHI, studying the hematopoietic defect in SCL/TAL1 deficient mice. To study the absence of blood in these animals, I started to use mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation, a field in which Gordon Keller was doing pioneering work, as a model system to access the earliest stages of hematopoietic mesoderm development. With the generation of human embryonic stem cells by James Thomson and then by Martin Pera (who was at Monash University in Australia), I decided that this was the field for the future, and for me. I transferred my research along with Elizabeth Ng and Ed Stanley, to Monash University in 2002 and we started working in the new field of human embryonic stem cell culture and differentiation. My laboratory and Ed Stanley's laboratory relocated to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in 2012, in order to enhance future stem cell translational opportunities. The rest is history…

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?
I initially attended an ISEH meeting in 1998 in Vancouver where I presented our early mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation data. There followed a hiatus of about a decade when I preferentially attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meetings. I saw the light in 2010, when the ISEH annual meeting was held in my home town, Melbourne. I realized that this was the 'go to' meeting for me and I have attended every year since and have maintained a keen interest and involvement in the society.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?
As outlined in my answer to the next question, my passion is the understanding of human HSC development in the early embryo using differentiation of human pluripotent stem cell as a model system. Reaching this goal will be of tremendous practical significance in allowing the in vitro generation of repopulating cells with therapeutic utility for patients with a range of illnesses.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?
The most exciting work that we are doing is related to the elucidation of the development of hematopoieitic stem cells from differentiating human pluripotent stem cells. Our laboratory has been studying human hematopoietic differentiation for over 10 years and we feel that we now understand this process a little better. Eventually, we would like to be able to produce a 'roadmap' or 'blueprint' that delineates the path that human pluripotent stem cell take as they journey from an undifferentiated state to the first HSCs. We have been assisted in our endeavours by the development of a differentiation system (the spin EB), a defined medium (APEL), and the generation of fluorescent reporter cell lines that facilitate the identification of key developmental stages during human hematopoietic differentiation. Of course, our work is informed by advances in human and mouse developmental biology and pluripotent stem cell differentiation made by our many great colleagues and collaborators.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?
I think that recent changes in our field can be considered at different levels. Firstly, there are the incremental increases in knowledge that enable us to now do something that we could not previously do. For example, in my field, we are now confident that we can differentiate human pluripotent stem cells to definitive lineages. Next, there are key discoveries or technologies that underpin these advances. For example, the rapid development and adoption of CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing has greatly facilitated the genetic manipulation of pluripotent stem cells and animals. Progressive improvements in genome and transcript sequencing and data handling has also significantly enhanced our ability to generate and process these data.

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?
I suspect that we are on the cusp of a wave of stem cell related clinical trials and therapies that will move regenerative medicine from the sphere of wishful thinking to scientific reality over the next decade. I think that hematological treatments will be amongst those that emerge over this time period.

How would you describe the funding climate for your specific type of research?
Difficult. Funding opportunities for basic research are increasingly limited and these cuts may seriously impact on new innovative research.

What advice do you have for new investigators entering this scientific field?
You need to identify and develop an 'angle', or a 'niche' that sets you aside from others in the field. You also need someone to love you (metaphorically!) and nurture you early in your career. This is particularly important for women who will be trying to juggle the challenges of family and career.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
ISEH provides a unique mix of scientists passionate about blood, a broad range of expertise encompassing all areas of hematology plus a very friendly and collegial atmosphere. ISEH deservedly has a reputation for camaraderie and openness, attributes that I greatly value.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?
ISEH is the most relevant forum for someone like me who studies hematopoietic development. I particularly like the focused sessions that are relevant to my interests, and the opportunity to network with colleagues. The medium size of the meeting means that it is feasible to catch up with everyone who you wish to see over the course of the meeting.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
In the 2014 ISEH meeting in Montreal, we had a bat in our hotel room! We called security who came with a swimming pool net to capture and evict the unwanted guest. Needless to say, the bat returned the next night. We moved rooms! [I have video footage of the bat in the room!]

Do you have a hobby?
I have been learning to play flamenco guitar. My wife Elizabeth is a keen flamenco dancer.

What are your favorite books?

I like all the books written by Stephen King (fantasy/horror) and by Neil Gaiman (fantasy)

What is your favorite movie?
Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
I would like to meet the developmental biologist and epigeneticist, Conrad Waddington. I think that his ideas on the regulation of differentiation are very relevant to the hematopoietic differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells that my laboratory is interested in.

Sofie Singbrant-Soderberg is currently a principal investigator with the department of Molecular Medicine and Gene Therapy at the Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University, Sweden working with Hematopoietic stem cell biology, erythropoiesis and TGF-beta signaling. She has been a valued member of The New Investigator’s Committee since 2012. Her education and credentials include receiving MSc in Chemistry (Biomedical Chemistry Master Program) University of Kalmar, Sweden (2002), PhD in Molecular Medicine, Lund University, Sweden (2009) with Dr. Stefan Karlsson, Postdoc at St. Vincent’s Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia with Dr. Carl Walkley.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

As part of my MSc I performed a master project at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia. When returning to Sweden I knew that I wanted to continue in science, but not necessarily in what field. Also, I didn’t have a lot of contacts at any of the bigger universities in Sweden. So, to increasing my chances of finding a good lab for my PhD I decided to get more lab experience in a variety of areas and to expand my scientific network. I was admitted to the Biomedical Research School at Lund University where did lab-rotations, which really helped me realize what I was interested in, and very importantly, what kind of lab I wanted to work in. After having tried several different labs and projects I found the glass shoe that fitted and ended up doing my PhD with Dr. Stefan Karlsson on the role of TGF-beta superfamily signaling in hematopoietic stem cell regulation. And 12 years later I still find hematology and stem cell regulation very interesting.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

My PhD supervisor - Dr. Stefan Karlsson - was involved in ISEH and encouraged us from very early on to submit abstracts and apply for traveling grants to attend scientific meetings, particularly the ISEH meetings. My first ISEH meeting was in Glasgow 2005, and I’ve continued going almost every year ever since.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

I aim to mentor new investigators, both in my own group and at our department, by being available, supportive but critical, and by asking questions rather than to provide solutions. Through my role as vice chair for Future Faculty at Lund University and being on the ISEH New Investigator Committee I also get to influence career sessions, workshops and “meet the expert”-opportunities promoting development of new investigators both locally and internationally.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

Starting up my own independent line of research is of course very exciting, and one interesting study we are focusing on is the role of mitochondrial function in red blood cell formation and anemia, which we believe is particularly important in the refractory anemia associated with Myelodysplastic syndrome. Another exciting finding that I’ve made together with Dr. Johan Flygare is that we have identified surface markers that provide high purity fractionation and definition of a hierarchy of stress-progenitors mediating irradiation-induced stress recovery, including the earliest erythroid progenitors responsible for producing large numbers of red blood cells. This provides a great tool for our further characterization and functional studies of the mechanisms regulating erythropoiesis during anemia.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?

Several techniques that we use now are much more sophisticated, allowing us to investigate biological processes at a single cell resolution. This has really re-drawn the hematopoietic tree, and changed the way we interpret output potential of individual cells. Also, imaging techniques have evolved, allowing us to view hematopoietic cells in their microenvironment both at a greater resolution and in real time. Furthermore, the CRISPR/CAS9 system of gene disruption has made a big difference when studying biological functions of various genes in health and disease.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

First of all, the annual meetings, but also the high-quality webinars that are free to ISEH members and our journal Experimental Hematology.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

Apart from the great science presented, I particularly like the ISEH meetings for two reasons. Firstly, it is small enough to interact with everyone from PhD students to senior professors, and secondly there is a great focus on new investigators with educating career sessions and “meet the expert” opportunities. And as a member of the New Investigator Committee we are constantly working on making the annual meetings even more attractive for young investigators to attend.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

I have so many great memories from ISEH meetings, I’m not sure I can choose just one. But they all have in common that they include interacting with the people going to the meetings, and range from getting valuable feedback from top scientists in our field to dancing until 3 am at the social events. A great mix of science and networking!

Hobbies: To travel, spend time with my family, and eat and dance with friends.
Favorite book: A man called Ove, by the Swedish author Fredrik Backman
Favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption
If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why? I would love to have dinner with Ellen DeGeneres. I think humor is a very important ingredient to keep sane no matter what you do or experience in life.

Dr. David Kent, Ph.D., is a principal investigator in the Department of Haematology at the University of Cambridge focusing on Single Cell Fate Choid in Normal and Malignant Stem Cells. He has been working in the hematology and stem cells scientific field for 11 years and has been a member of ISEH for 9 of those years. Dr. Kent also serves as the Stem Cell Institute’s Public Engagement Champion. He created and authored The Black Hole a website and blog for education and training of scientist. Dr. Kent kindly accepted Connection's invitation to participate in a Q&A session. Below he shares with us his most influential senior investigator, approach to mentoring, biggest challenge he sees facing the field and his experiences with ISEH

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

Connie Eaves – my PhD supervisor. From day one is was obvious that she was going to challenge the way I thought about science. She provided an incredible balance of motivation and freedom and had an uncanny ability to know when you needed boosting up or knocking down – both of which are extremely useful. I still regularly seek Connie’s advice and input in science and in life despite having left her lab 6 years ago.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

I’ve just started my group, but I am trying to give people the freedom to develop their own projects and eventually take their ideas out on their own – I think the worst thing a young investigator can do is be protective over ideas in the lab. My approach is to get the lab to work as a team, if we succeed, then everyone benefits. To achieve this, every 3-4 lab meetings we have a general discussion about the big ideas in the field, whether we are positioned to ask particular questions as a group and how we can work together on projects to achieve our goals. I have regular appraisals with my group members to make sure their career is on track (for academic or otherwise!) and encourage them to be flexible in their thinking about science.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

We’ve recently started to link biological and molecular outcomes in single stem cells (Schulte et al., Exp Hem 2015 and Wilson et al., Cell Stem Cell 2015). While the technique of index-sorting has been around since the 1990s, the single cell functional and molecular assays have only recently been sufficiently advanced to be done on this scale. For stem cell biologists with defined single cell assays in any system, these datasets can now be linked meaning that we can assess a huge number of variables in a single experiment. I should also mention that Peggy Goodell was a catalyst for sending us down that path, underscoring the importance of being open to new ideas outside of your immediate experimental setup.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?

The pressure on young scientists is enormous and the way we educate and train needs to adapt in order to avoid scientific misconduct, to keep the best and brightest in scientific careers, and to ensure that we move science forward not backward. The career has become more important than the science in so many cases and this is really distressing. Institutions need to stop demonizing non-academic careers and hiring committees need to focus on the science and the candidate rather than the journal in which the work was published. Individuals need to ask themselves the question of whether they enjoy their work and not over-value the particular version of life success that has been put before them.

What advice do you have for new investigators entering this scientific field?

Science is a team sport and a group leader should have plenty of ideas to keep their lab going. Protecting a single idea or concept (especially when the postdoc or student may have contributed to its development) is just petty. Maybe I’m naïve and haven’t been hardened by bad experiences, but I’m optimistic that working together with former trainees is far more beneficial than drawing a line in the sand and standing on opposite sides (I still collaborate with my PhD and postdoc mentors). In the end, the public and/or charities have paid for most of the research and deserve to have us working toward common goals.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

It has such an active membership – the New Investigator Committee is extremely good (hat tip in particular to the current group of Teresa, Peter, Kena, Michael and co) and the leadership appears really receptive to new ideas. ISEH is a society that works in partnership with its members and it really comes through at the Annual Meeting.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

It’s the right size and has a good balance of clinical/experimental work. It rotates across the world and captures a broad set of researchers as a result. Finally, it facilitates interaction between group leaders and trainees – an essential for knowledge transfer and a great place to find a postdoc opportunity!

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

So tough to answer this – but I think one of the highlights has to be the boat ride in Hamburg 2007 – for me it was the first time I’d properly interacted with the European Hematology community and I met some excellent international colleagues (and my eventual postdoc supervisor).

Some fun facts about Dr. Kent:

• His favorite hobbies include: Football (the European kind); squash; and trying to save science (the blogging)
• Favorite book: Lord of the Flies, by William Goldin.
• Favorite movie: Shawshank Redemption
• If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why? Martin Luther – breaking up something as powerful as the church is impressive…

My PhD thesis advisor, Hanna Mikkola, is a long-time member. She brought me to ISEH 2012 right after I joined her lab so I could get a chance to present my research and also interact with the field of hematology.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
The best thing about ISEH is the small size that allows the meetings to be focused and members to easily network. There’s not only a true interest in developing young investigators’ careers, but the ability to actually act on that interest and further the advancement of students.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?
It’s the best place to get very focused and relevant feedback on my research. The professors are all easily approachable and seem more relaxed in this smaller meeting than others. Plus, the meeting is always held in a really cool city.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
I always like it when there’s dancing, especially if the DJ’s good. That’s the best part: seeing stiff PIs shed their coats and dignities to break it down.

What are your hobbies?

I play basketball, fence sabre, and run half-marathons regularly. I also like to follow the stock market, experiment with different recipes, and read non-biology articles when I can.

What are your favorite books?

A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway), The Nonexistent Knight (Italo Calvino), The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)

What are your favorite movies?

Return of the Jedi, The Devil Wears Prada

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
This is a no-brainer. I would meet Pat Head Summitt, the Coach Emeritus of the University of Tennessee’s Women’s Basketball Team. She is not only the winningest coach in college basketball—men’s or women’s—she is also a pioneer, great mentor, and a true inspiration as a person. I had the fortune of growing up watching Coach Summitt’s teams dominate college basketball. At the time, I didn’t know anything about Title IX, or appreciate the significance of the `96 “Year of Woman” Olympics that came right in the middle of her three-peat championships, I just knew that the intimidating coach with orange blazers and laser eyes always came up with winning plays, her players were awesome and I wanted to be one of them. Even though science became a bigger draw and I was never that good at basketball, I continued to love watching the Lady Volunteers play and I did end up playing for the Caltech Women’s Basketball team. Even after her diagnosis and forced retirement with early onset Alzheimer’s in 2012, she continues to be the face of women’s basketball and has, as usual, conducted herself with superhuman courage and perseverance. Without Pat Summitt, girls in sports—and, indeed, confident girls ready to take on or over the world—would be much more of a rarity and I would certainly not be the person I am today.

How do you balance personal life and work?
Achieving work-family life balance is often a difficult process in our productivity-driven society. Especially, post-doctoral training is the critical period to build a scientific career and sometimes it require personal sacrifices. As a young father, I think that I have found a good balance between my family life and my work by making wise decisions on the most important matters at the right moments. Having a child helped me to set my priorities in my daily life. Moreover, the world of research gives me the chance to have a certain flexibility in my work schedule. I believe that working in scientific research together with a well-balanced personal life is definitely compatible.

What are you working on most intensely right now?
My work recently led to the identification of a new drug that efficiently inhibits pre-LSC activity with undetectable effect on normal HSC properties. My ongoing efforts right now is to understand, at the molecular level, this specificity towards pre-LSCs.

In your field, what do you hope we will know in five or 10 years that we don’t know now?
In the last decade, considerable effort has been devoted to understand the complexity of leukemogenesis. New powerful whole genome sequencing revealed an important patient-to-patient heterogeneity at the molecular level. I hope that in the next ten years, we will be able to establish an accurate and low-cost diagnosis for each patient and provide individual therapies. In addition, there are right now several cellular and molecular evidences that leukemia can be initiated by the reprogramming of an aberrant stem cell gene network in a committed progenitor leading to the emergence of self-renewing pre-LSCs. I hope that future therapies will target aberrant properties of pre-LSCs in order to prevent disease relapse and turn acute leukemias into diseases with good prognosis for the benefit of patients.

Who is your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?
My most influential senior investigator is my current mentor, Dr. Trang Hoang. I continued my scientific progression in Dr. Hoang’s laboratory in order to acquire new skills that were very complementary with my previous training. Dr. Hoang is a founding member of IRIC. My experience with her allows me to enrich my knowledge, in particular the concepts and practice of transcription regulation in hematopoietic cells and the power of genetic approaches through the use of transgenic mouse models reproducing human disease when combined with bio-imaging and drug screening. Dr. Hoang’s experience, her open-minded attitude and enthusiasm really stimulate me. Our everyday discussions help me to achieve my research aspirations and boost my level of motivation in performing research at its highest standards and prepare me for a career as an independent researcher.

What are your future career plans?
My plan is to obtain a set of unique multidisciplinary skills and a network of mentors and collaborators that will help me to develop my own research programs and progressively to become an independent investigator and group leader.

How were you introduced to ISEH?
During my PhD.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
The great variety of topics covered, the presence of world leading speakers, training sessions for young investigators, as well as the participation of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with different scientific backgrounds.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?
I greatly benefit from attending the ISEH because my projects align perfectly with the research topics presented at the meeting. Moreover, interaction with other participants allowed me to create valuable network and develop collaborations. Finally, the presentation of my work gives me a visibility in the field and opens opportunities for my future career.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
Without doubt, this one!

Are you planning to continue as an ISEH member?
Yes

Would you like to be more involved with the society, for as a member of the New Investigator Committee?
In the future, I would be glad to be more involved with the society.

What are your hobbies?
Tennis, Guitar.

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
Axel Kahn is an eminent French geneticist well known for his popularization of science and his position statement about ethical questions in science such as the use of gene therapy, stem cell and cloning. He is the author of several published books that influenced my thoughts and I definitely would be glad to meet him.

How were you introduced to ISEH?
I knew ISEH since I was a senior medical graduate student in the late 1980s. I submitted an abstract to the ISEH annual meeting in 1990 and obtained a travel award. Unfortunately, due to the international travel restrictions in China at that time, I was not able to attend the meeting.

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?
Dr. David Scadden, who was my mentor during my postgraduate training and also for my junior faculty tenure at Harvard. Shortly after I joined his lab, he sent me to attend the ISEH meeting in 1995. He has provided instrumental and constant guidance for my academic career development since then.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?
First of all, I always try to mobilize the young investigators to have a true, strong interest for scientific research. Second, I suggest them to have reasonable goals (both personal and job-related) throughout their career. Third, I advise them to constantly improve their communication skills, which are crucial for data presentation, paper/grant preparation, collaborative efforts, etc.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?
The most exciting aspect to me is living in an ever fast-developing era, in which researchers are able to dissect complex disease problems with all kinds of “omics”, single cell technologies and systems biology approaches with an emphasis on clinical relevance.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?
Reprograming of hematopoietic cells is one of the important projects in my lab. Research on cell reprogramming will not only generate unprecedented promise for regenerative medicine but also provide a powerful tool to study the epigenetics of cells such as hematopoietic cells and leukemia cells.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?
Due to advances in technology, the field has changed dramatically. On one hand, our understanding of biology is becoming deeper. For example, many questions are to be addressed at the single cell and single molecule levels. On the other hand, translational studies have become a major trend. Clinical relevance or therapeutic potential of any biomedical study is an important element that needs to be assessed in order to make a stronger impact.

It is clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?
The above trends will continue, but given the increasing complexity of most studies, mega data technology coupled with systems biology is going to be in great demand in the years to come.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?
For hematology research, cutting costs down to deliver more affordable medicine is a major challenge. In addition to science, researchers may also have some practical considerations when they choose specific compounds or biological agents to work with. For stem cell research, providing scientific guidance for properly conducting clinical stem cell trials will also be a big challenge. Basic research can contribute more to the standardization of stem cell products in the future.

Does your lab have any big studies or projects planned in the near future?
With my basic research background mainly in hematopoietic stem cell biology, my research is moving toward a more translational direction in the future

You worked in the USA for several years, why did you decide to continue your research career in China?
The research platform is larger and the funding situation is better in China.

What are the challenges and the rewards of working as a researcher in China?
The academic atmosphere is not as strong as in the States, although it is improving. We could take some more scientifically challenging and more patient-relevant projects in China.

How would you describe the funding climate in your country for biomedical research in general and for your specific type of research in particular?
The funding situation in China is quite good in general and the mechanism for awarding grants is improving. There has been a special emphasis on stem cell research in recent years, which is particularly relevant to my research focus.

What advice do you have for new investigators that are considering to return to China to pursue a career in research?
If you believe more opportunities are important for a speedy career development, you should find a job in China.

What advice to you have for your government to recruit high level researchers?
The government has implemented a favorable policy allowing us to recruit high-level researchers. In fact, with the current policy, I have been able to recruit internationally-renowned researchers from other counties (such as Hideo Emma from Japan).

You are the newest Associate Editor of Experimental Hematology. Why did you accept the role? Do you think that it is important for the journal to have an Associate Editor working in China. Why?
On one hand, I want to contribute to the society and the field from which my career has benefited. On the other hand, this position may help to further improve the quality of papers coming from China, especially given the rapidly increasing submissions from China to western journals like Experimental Hematology.

Do you have any advice to help recruit more ISEH members in Asia?
ISEH can have more presence in Asia by organizing or co-organizing workshops, symposiums or training courses.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?
Both science and location are quite important to me.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?
I attend it in order to catch up with the cutting-edge research in hematology and socialize with colleagues in the field.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?
One was during the ISEH meeting I attended in 1995 in Düsseldorf, Germany and another was during last year’s ISEH in Montréal

What are your?
Hobbies: swimming, music
Favorite book(s): Albert Einstein, Steven Jobs, classical Chinese novels such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Favorite movie(s): Titanic, Interstellar
If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
Charles Darwin. I would ask him what the true motivation for him to undertake his evolution discovery journey is: pure scientific curiosity or something else?

Dr. Lipka took the time to participate in a Q&A session with Connections. Below he discusses how he transitioned from a clinician to a basic scientist, exciting developments in his research, as well as his future goals as an independent scientist.

Tell us about your post-graduate education, generally.

I studied medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg (Germany) and Madrid (Spain). Afterwards, I completed my training in Internal Medicine at the University Medical Centers of Ulm and Mainz in Germany and then moved to the University Medical Center in Magdeburg to specialize in Hematology/Oncology in the program lead by Prof. Thomas Fischer. In 2011, I then chose to leave clinical practice in order to pursue my growing interest in medical research and took up a position within the Division of Epigenomics and Cancer Risk Factors at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) under the guidance of Professor Christoph Plass. Since then, my scientific research focuses on how the epigenome regulates the biology of both normal and malignant hematopoiesis.

Who has most influenced you to become a scientist, and how did they influence you? 

My clinical mentor Thomas Fischer is a clinician scientist who dedicated his entire career to combine translational research with academic clinical medicine. During my entire clinical training, he supported and enforced my interest in hematologic research, which ultimately led to the decision to move into basic hematologic research.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?  

For me as a clinical hematologist, it was a natural consequence to pursue my scientific career in the field of hematology, and as a matter of fact, when dealing with hematologic malignancies one cannot evade becoming interested in hematologic stem cells right away.

What is the overall aim of your research?

The overall aim of my research is to contribute to the understanding of the pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies at the molecular level. In the last couple of years, epigenetics has moved into the focus of hematologic research since many epigenetic key players show mutations in hematologic malignancies. My approach is to try and understand the role of epigenetics during normal hematopoiesis, since I believe that without understanding normal differentiation processes, it will be impossible to understand malignant transformation. One major technical barrier in this field of research, which limits the study of rare stem cell/cancer stem cell populations, is the relatively large amounts of input material that is required to perform true genome wide sequencing analysis following chromatin immunoprecipitation or bisulphite conversion. In Professor Plass’ lab, I have successfully employed a number of technologies in order to facilitate whole epigenome studies using limited input material from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

Tell us a little about the subject of your presentation.

At this year’s ISEH meeting in Montreal, I presented my work describing the single CpG resolution DNA methylomes of hematopoietic stem cells and their immediate progeny. Across all populations, we identified >13000 differentially methylated regions that have not been covered by previous screens due to methodological restrictions. Differentially methylated regions were strongly enriched in cis-regulatory elements. We further observed an unprecedented correlation between changes in DNA methylation and gene expression. Together, this enabled us to identify a large number of novel gene regulatory elements, which are candidates for controlling the molecular programs directing self-renewal and early hematopoietic commitment.

How do you balance personal life and work?

My wife and my two children keep me busy while I’m at home and they manage to make me forget how busy I am at work as soon as I am entering our house.

What are you working on most intensely right now?

In our group, we are now working on a more comprehensive characterization of epigenetic changes occurring during early hematopoietic commitment. This will enable a better understanding of the molecular processes regulating stem cell self-renewal and differentiation.

In your field, what do you hope we will know in five or 10 years that we don’t know now?

Currently, epigenetics is a fast moving field. We are currently only at the very beginning in our understanding of how genes are regulated. One major obstacle in understanding gene regulation on a genome-wide scale is that there are numerous regions that can act at long distances, which makes the identification of their targets extremely difficult. I hope, that within the next 10 years mapping approaches would be feasible also for adult hematopoietic stem cells. The comprehensive mapping of genes to their regulatory regions will not only enhance our understanding of how hematopoiesis is regulated, but it will also facilitate the identification of novel drug targets for the treatment of hematologic malignancies.

Who is your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

My most influential scientific mentor is Christoph Plass. I started in his lab as a postdoc three years ago, and he managed to get me fascinated in the field of epigenetics from the first day on. I managed to convince him to pursue my idea to study the DNA methylomes of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells which I envisioned to be a major resource for hematologic research. 

Although this was not his primary research field at that time, he heavily supported me throughout the entire project. Now, 2 ½ years later, we have published two papers based on the results of this work.

What are your future career plans?

In the near future, I hope to be able to start my own research group dealing with epigenetics in normal and malignant hematopoiesis.

What general advice would you give a young person considering a career in science?

Follow your interest and know your capabilities. This is, apart from hard work, the basis for success in research.

What are the results of a scientific career that makes it worthwhile and exciting?

During your research you ask questions and try to design the right experiment to answer these questions. Sometimes you get the answer (right or wrong) from your experiment, but sometimes the result is something completely unexpected. This is why I am still fascinated by science.

How were you introduced to ISEH?   

I was introduced to ISEH through my colleague Mick Milsom who was telling me how great the annual ISEH meetings are.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH

ISEH is a viable research society and I experience that everybody in the society really actively contributes to keep this research society alive.  

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting? 

At the ISEH Annual Meeting unpublished data are presented and discussed. I feel that the ISEH Annual Meeting is very interactive and a good forum for presenting research, since numerous well renowned experts in the field of hematology are attending the meeting.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory

A statement by Connie Eaves at the beginning of her talk in Montreal this year. She was saying that she was happy to be able to present her data on the “annual world lab meeting”. And this statement represented exactly how I feel about the ISEH Annual Meeting.

What are your?

Hobbies:  Running, Skiing

Favorite book(s): “La sombra del viento” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Nadia Carlesso, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Medical and Molecular Genetics

Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research

Indiana University School of Medicine

1044 W. Walnut, Bldg. R4-Room 166

Indianapolis, IN  46202

Ph:      317-274-2134

FAX:     317-274-8679

Email:  ncarless@iupui.edu

Dr. Nadia Carlesso is an associate professor of Pediatrics Medical and Molecular Genetics at the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research Indiana University School of Medicine. She has been working in the field of hematology and stem cell research for 22 years, and has been an ISEH member for 14 of those years. She has served on the ISEH Board of Directors since 2010 and is a member of the ISEH Membership and Marketing Task Force.

Dr. Carlesso kindly answered some questions for ISEH.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

It wasn’t a straight line. I started research when I was in Medical School (in Torino, Italy) and I spent the first two years studying the Dictyostelium Discoideum. A summer internship in the Department of Pathology at the University of Berlin introduced me to Hematology, but it was the subsequent internship in the Hematology Department at the University of Torino – that was determinant for my future path. There, under the guidance of Dr. Dario Ferrero (the “Maestro”), I learnt the bases of normal and malignant hematopoietic cell biology and I got completely hooked by the complexity of the hematopoietic system.

How were you introduced to ISEH?

It was in 1991. ISEH was in Parma, Italy. I had just concluded my first work on AML cells in vitro response to retinoic acid and I submitted it to the conference. It was my first international meeting.

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

David Scadden. I worked close to him for 10 years. During my training with him I learn principles that I keep as constant reminder in my work: - to think outside the box and about the big picture - never be satisfied with what you know and always push the bar higher.

How would you describe your lab environment:

I am working in the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. I have a core group of 6 people: 3 postdoctoral fellows, 1 PhD student, 1 clinical fellow and one technician;  plus 3-6 rotating graduate and undergraduate students during the year.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators in your lab?

Mentoring is not only about the personal advice or guidance you provide to your mentees: you are mentoring by example. I hope to be a good example, by having a positive outlook at things, accepting constructive criticism, being open minded and determined. I am trying to show them the rewards of doing research, not only the challenges.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

The distinct role of specific cell microenvironments in the regulation of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors. Our expanding knowledge on the superimposing layers of gene regulation by epigenetic mechanisms and non-coding RNAs. The new gene-editing tools like CRISPR, which will allow faster generation of new animal models.

What is the most exciting study or project happening in your lab?

We have recently discovered a molecular link between Notch signaling, microRNA miR155 and NF-kB regulation. We are currently studying how Notch signaling regulates the inflammatory tone in the bone marrow microenvironment and how this impact normal and malignant hematopoiesis.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?

There has been an amazing progress in several areas, such as genomic and epigenetics, non-coding RNAs, iPS, the tumor microenvironment and the return of immunotherapy. A better understanding of cellular contexts and specific alterations in hematopoietic malignancies has also driven the development of several new drugs and targeted therapeutic approaches.

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?

I predict that there will be a steady progress in understanding the relation between individual genetic make-up, disease and response to therapies, and that “personalized medicine” and more effective targeted therapies will move fast-forward. We will have increased ability to generate experimental disease models, through animal models and iPS technology and there will be more progress toward tissue and organ regeneration. I also think that the technological advances made in the past few years lay the premises for a new conceptual breakthrough, of which we may have only glimpses at this moment. 

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?

The recent advances in technology has allowed us to gather an enormous amount of information- Think for example,  about our ability to define whole gene expression at a single cell level, in individual patients, in different tissues and disease contexts. I think the biggest challenge for the researchers will be to interpret these data, to distinguish the “critical” from the “marginal” at the light of a specific question. I think the generation of new algorithms and analytical tools and the thinking process characterizing “System Biology” will help us in this challenge.  

Does your lab have any big studies or projects planned in the near future?

We are planning to continue to investigate how the bone marrow niche regulates the hematopoietic stem cell/progenitor differentiation during acute infections and how the inflamed bone marrow microenvironment contributes to hematopoietic malignancies.  

How would you describe the funding climate for your specific type of research?

Climate: there have been several harsh winters – we are looking forward to spring.

What advice do you have for new investigators entering this scientific field?

Do not take anything for granted –do not slide into dogmatism (it is easier than you think) - keep being curious. Always.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

Since its start ISEH has created a tight community of hematologists from different parts of the world and a great forum to discuss new ideas in the field.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

I like the size and the organization of it: they are ideal to foster collaborations and interactions among senior scientists and trainees. I like the many opportunities and the ideal forum created for students and postdoc to discuss science and career.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

My favorite ISEH meeting is without doubt Parma 1991. At this meeting I meet who will become my life companion/husband, Angelo Cardoso. There, I also met who will become my first US mentor, Jim Griffin. I followed him closely at the meeting, until I got him to see my poster and ask him: can I work in your lab? The following year I moved to Boston, into his lab, and I have being in the States ever since. ISEH Parma 1991 had also the best food I had in a meeting, “ever”.

Why did you decide to become part of the Editorial Board of ExpHem and the Membership & Marketing Task Force task force ?

I like this society, I wanted to feel more a part of it and help in sustaining it, in some ways.

What are your hobbies?

No yet time for hobbies

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Jules Verne. I read all his novels as a kid, but I am still fascinated by his stories, his imagination and by his accurate prediction of different technologies:  many of his imaginary things became real 100 years later. I would be curious to know what he will imagine if he would live in our days…..

Dr. Flores Figueroa kindly answered some questions for ISEH:                                                                                                                                                      

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?                                                                              

My first encounter with the field was almost 20 years ago when I saw a hematopoiesis poster outside of the office of my mentor-to-be, Dr. Hector Mayani. He told me that I was about to get into the most fascinating and best research field. He was not lying! As an undergraduate student in his lab, I had the opportunity to work with “the classic” long-term marrow cultures growing myelodysplastic syndomes (MDS) patient’s cells. We found that the adherent layer was producing inflammatory cytokines, and wanted to elucidate which cells were involved. So, for my master’s thesis, I worked with macrophages and stromal fibroblasts cell cultures and found that MDS stromal fibroblasts were producing increased levels of the cytokines. For my PhD, I asked “why”. In 2005, we found that the stromal fibroblasts, or mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), harbor chromosomal abnormalities, but were not clonal. When I finished my PhD, my mentor, Dr. Mayani, offered me a position in his group, and then gave me the opportunity to have my own lab. I had been “a stem cell from one single niche” for most of my career, but a few years later, I felt that it was time “to mobilize”. I began doing some short research stays. My first one was in 2010, at the pathology department at Stanford University. I worked with Dr. Dita Gratzinger, a young and bright hematopathologist and researcher. I have to say that my vision of hematopoiesis completely changed when I saw the first human bone marrow biopsy, allowing me to understand the architecture of bone marrow. Last year I had an amazing opportunity to work in Dr. John Dick’s Lab, where I learnt team work, analytical thinking, and truly saw how much they enjoy doing science.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

 My mentor always looked for funding to bring his students to the meetings, and introduced me to ISEH when I was a graduate student. I started on the “right foot” when I won a travel award, and had my abstract chosen for an oral presentation at my first ISEH meeting. Since then, every ISEH meeting has brought many good experiences.

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

Dr. Louise Purton (Associate Director and Lab Head at St. Vincent’s Institute in Australia) is a role model to me. She showed me that you can be a great scientist, a great mom, and a great person all-in-one.  She always has 5 minutes to help someone, to respond to an email, and to give advice.  I met her  at a small conference in San Francisco in 2007. Since then, we always meet at ISEH. We have not worked together on a project (yet), but she has been the one who opened my eyes to networking. She has also helped me with career decisions.  Before I met her, all I did at the meetings was “hang around” with my lab members and stand as a soldier in front of my poster. She introduced me to the New Investigators Committee, and always introduces me to other scientists at the meetings.

Of course, it will not be fair if I did not mention my mentor and boss, Dr. Hector Mayani.  He has always pushed my career and supported my ideas. He is the reason why I am in this field. In addition, having the opportunity to work in Dr. John Dick’s Lab has been amazing. John is not only a great scientist, but also a great person. He was kind enough to listen to me and believe in the project, he is a great inspiration and a role model.

Describe your lab or work environment:

I have a small sized lab, and I try to work hand on hand with my students.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

I am helping by inspiring them and transmitting my passion for science. I tell them that it is a job that you enjoy, and you are proud of, but it does not come easy, you have to overcome many challenges and failures. So you have to love what you do, or better not do it.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

The speed of the discoveries since 2010 (starting with the paper from Nagasawa T), as well as the use of 2 photon microscopes.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

I am working on the characterization of the bone marrow architecture in different models.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?

From osteoblasts to endothelial cells, to reticular cells, and back to osteoblasts – the race to find the stem cell niche is astonishing!

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?

I think there are going to be new models to study hematopoiesis, and more specifically the stem cell niche.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?

Elucidating the hierarchy of MSCs and finding markers to map them. We are now doing cell therapy with MSC, but there are still many basic questions to be answered. I think that there needs to be more encouragement for basic projects.

Does your lab have any big studies or projects planned in the near future?

It's hard to think of any project as big or small as you never know where a project will take you. In terms of collaboration, I am starting some interesting ones that I hope will turn out to be big studies, not only in size but in importance.

Why did you decide to pursue your research career in Mexico?

I did not- or at least not consciously-.. When I was doing my Master's degree, my dream was to do my PhD in the United States. I visited Dr. Hal Broxmeyer’lab in 1999. I will always remember that he was so kind to speak with me and show me around. However, instead of going to his lab, I got married. We still joke about that when I see him at ISEH meetings. He asks, “are you still married?” And I say – yes. "So it was worth it," he tells me. Life is an experiment without controls, we never know what would have happened if we chose a different path, but we do have the power to make the best of our decisions.

What are the challenges and the rewards of working as a researcher in your country?

The number one reward is that you are contributing to grow the stem cell field in your country. The advantage to do science in Mexico is that your salary does not depend on your grants. Your salary comes 100% from your institution (a hospital or university or research center). In my entire career I have never seen a lab "disappear" because they did not get a grant one year, as I have, unfortunately, seen it in other countries. The challenges are the delays on getting your reagents and equipment; it could be months or even a year to get something.

How would you describe the funding climate in Mexico for biomedical research?

One of the good things about Mexico is that it is not going through an economic crisis – it has always been in one, so we are used to working on tight budgets. Overall, I can say that I have never seen a good lab struggle for grants.

What advice do you have for new investigators that are considering to return to Mexico to conduct research?

To never compare your life (personal and scientific) in Mexico to those living in a first world country. It is all about perspective: there is no right or wrong, better or worse – it is just different. It is like a HSC missing osteoblasts in the spleen (unless someone tries the Wolf and Trentin experiments, of course).

What advice do you have (if any) for your government to recruit high level researchers?

 To change customs laws, to help reduce the cost and time of import, change tax laws, and to encourage the private sector to invest in research.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

Its people and its focus on new investigators. 

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

Because of the great opportunity to network, and to present and discuss my science. 

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

Watching my mentor, along with my most admired scientists, dance the “chicken dance” at the Tampa ISEH meeting.

What are the duties and rewards of being a member of the New Investigator Committee?

The duties are to help organize webinars and social media, to have a monthly conference call, to organize the committee's activities for the ISEH meetings, and to contribute to Connections.

As for rewards, I have learned how to collaborate, and the necessary tools. I love that our conference calls are straight to the point, always on time, and always have a follow up (now I copy that to my own projects). I have been able to meet such amazing students, postdocs, PIs and ISEH administrative staff. I have the opportunity to write for Connections, and learn from other new investigators (Teresa and Peter) and from the editor, Carolina Abramovich, when they edit my work.

What are your:

Hobbies? Writing and traveling. I also enjoy taking classes on Coursera (www.coursera.org) (I recommend “Scientific Writing and Public Speaking”), and participating in scientific blogs.

Favorite book(s)? Purpose Driven Leadership by Rick Warren.

Favorite movie(s)? I do not have a favorite one, but I love looking for quotes from movies – even children’s movies.

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Steve Jobs. I enjoy watching his interviews and I often use his quotes in my talks. He had great vision.  I think that this is one of the best qualities someone can have: to see beyond your eyes and to obtain and create the resources to make it happen. The most recent quote that I used is: “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains"

University of California, Los Angeles
Office: 610 Charles E. Young Drive, East
Terasaki Life Sciences Building, Room 3014
Los Angeles CA 90095
Phone: (310) 206-0205
fax: (310) 206-0356
gcrooks@mednet.ucla.edu

Dr. Gay Crooks is an eminent professor in the departments of Pathology, Laboratory Medicine, and Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine in the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also the co-director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and the Associate Director of the Cancer & Stem Cell Biology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Crooks has been working in the field of hematology and stem cell research for 24 years, and has been an ISEH member for 20 of those years. She has served on the ISEH Board of Directors, as Chair of the ISEH Awards Committee, on the ISEH Membership Committee and  recently has become an Editor of Experimental Hematology.

Dr. Crooks uses her limited spare time to volunteer her expertise and experience to many other distinguished scientific boards and publications, including the editorial boards of BLOOD journal and Human Gene Therapy. She has also served as the Chair of the ASGCT Embryonic/Somatic Stem Cell & Tissue Engineering Committee.

Dr. Crooks kindly answered some questions for ISEH.

 How did you find your way to the scientific field of hematology and stem cells?

I spent the research part of my fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. I was working on a project on gene transfer in Hematopoietic Stem Cells, and I became fascinated in the biology of these unique and rare cells.

And then how were you introduced to ISEH?

My mentor introduced me to ISEH early in my research fellowship.

Who was your most influential senior investigator or mentor and how did he or she help you?

I really have two mentors: Donald Kohn and Robertson Parkman. Donald Kohn has been my research mentor and colleague for 20 years. He taught me the scientific method and provided me with the resources to grow as an independent investigator. He has been extremely generous with his time and very early on he allowed me to develop my own ideas. He has also been a great role model in translational research. Robertson Parkman is a senior physician scientist and was head of the BMT division at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. He has inspired me with his energy and insights about how science and research can impact patient care. He is a brilliant thinker and has always been incredibly generous with his time and support.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

I try to understand the personal goals of my mentees, from graduate students to junior faculty and to create research projects that best answer their interests and needs. I think that perhaps the main thing I can do to encourage them in their research career is to help them see the joy and integrity in the process of scientific discovery.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

Hematopoiesis is an exquisitely fine-tuned and dynamic system. Fortunately, a huge body of work over the past 50-60 years has provided us with a powerful framework for understanding the most basic questions in biology while also a clear clinical relevance for answering those questions. .

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

We have lots of great projects in the lab at present. For example, we are engineering human thymus tissue to implant into mice to create the microenvironment required for human T-cells to grow efficiently. We are also studying how to manipulate gene expression in human ES cells to produce Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?

The recent revelations in gene regulation are changing our view of how genes are controlled and are expanding dramatically the questions that can be asked regarding regulation of developmental process such as hematopoiesis.

The field is rapidly incorporating the notion that the overlay of non-coding regulatory sequences, including LiNC RNAs and microRNAs as well as RNA splicing mechanisms, are at least as important as the protein coding genes that they regulate. Hematopoiesis is a very powerful tool to study these regulatory networks, as the differentiation process is so well understood. In addition, so many years of research have created very elegant protocols to isolate cells at different stages of development and a large array of assays to demonstrate function.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?

The challenges are very similar to other fields, a combination of scarce resources (from reduced funding) and the imperfect process of peer review.

Does your lab have any big studies or projects planned in the near future?

We are working on how to improve human lymphoid development from stem cells. Clinical ways of improving hematological expansion and function after chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation have mainly focused on cytokines that promote myelopoiesis (e.g. G-CSF) and erythropoiesis (e.g. erythropoietin). Very little research has focused on ways to improve lymphopoiesis. However, as lymphoid recovery is much more delayed than the recovery of neutrophil function and the delay creates significant clinical risks, there is a real need to develop strategies to speed the functional recovery of lymphopoiesis.

How would you describe the funding climate for your specific type of research?

It is very difficult for everyone to get funding but the biggest problem is the uncertainty and inability to plan long term, that comes with short term funding and also with unexpected cuts in budgets of awarded grants. The lag period of applying for grants and receiving funding is another major issue for each labs planning. It will be a tragedy, and a waste of the years of previous investment, if all the tools that basic science has created cannot be applied to the field of biology and medicine due to the competing priorities of the Federal Government.

What advice do you have for new investigators entering this scientific field?

Even though the field is very mature scientifically (relative to others), I think there are entirely new questions opening up from the use of new tools to examine gene regulation and other basic questions. I would also suggest that trying to link your work to human hematopoiesis will open up more opportunities for research funding.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

The society has a clear focus on the scientific field that most interests me and provides all of us in the field a foundation for the history and for the future of the discipline.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

I enjoy the chance to talk about great science with wonderful colleagues.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

Spending time over red wine with Christa Muller-Sieburg on the harbor cruise at the ISEH meeting in Vancouver in 2011.

Why did you decide to become an Associate Editor for Experimental Hematology?

I believe that Experimental Hematology is uniquely placed in the scientific literature through its focus on the basic biology of hematopoiesis. It also has a 40-plus year history and avid readers. I am happy to bring to the journal my background in the field in of hematopoiesis, and specifically in human hematopoiesis in which there are still many important questions to answer.

Anna Beaudin has spent three years studying hematology and stem cells as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. She has been an ISEH member for two years, beginning in 2011 when she submitted an abstract and made a short presentation in Vancouver. Her areas of expertise are hematopoiesis, stem cells, development, neural development, nutritional science, and metabolism. Her educational credentials include a PhD in Nutritional Science and Molecular Nutrition from Cornell University, a M.Sc. in Psychology from Brown University, and a B.A Magna Cum Laude in Psychology from Cornell University.

Anna enjoys attending the ISEH Annual Scientific meetings for the scientific content, the format, and the fact that there are ample opportunities for young investigators to present their work. She values that she has made a lot of good connections and hopes to continue doing so in the future.

Anna kindly answered some questions for ISEH.

Tell us broadly about your post-graduate education and about the experience of being a post-graduate fellow.

I have had an unusual graduate and post-graduate education in that I have switched fields several times. I did my bachelors and masters’ degrees in behavioral neuroscience, my PhD in folate metabolism and molecular nutrition, and now my postdoctoral training is in stem cell biology and hematopoiesis. In some ways this can be seen as a disadvantage, but I feel that it has given me a breadth that is somewhat unusual and helps me to see the bigger picture in my daily research.

Who has most influenced you to become a scientist, and how did they influence you?

My husband is probably the person that has most influenced me to become a scientist. A scientist himself, he has a very sincere love of science and discovery, and shared this with me at an early stage of my training.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

After my PhD, I wanted to move into stem cell research, and I initially became involved in research on cardiac stem cells. However, once I was in the stem cell field, it didn’t take long for me to realize that the hematopoietic system was the best system for studying stem cell function.

What is the overall aim of your research?

I am generally interested in studying developmental hematopoietic pathways and how perturbations of developmental hematopoietic pathways influence immune development and disease outcomes.

Tell us a little about the subject of your presentation.

My presentation focused on the discovery of a novel, developmentally restricted hematopoietic stem cell that I have found can support long-term multilineage reconstitution upon transplantation into an irradiated adult recipient but does not exist in situ in an adult. I’ve also shown that this novel HSC is responsible for generating unique subsets of immune cells during development. We discovered this stem cell population using a lineage-tracing model recently characterized in our lab.

What is the most exciting or intriguing result you’ve gotten so far?

One exciting implication of my recent finding is that we’ve shown with our lineage tracing model that just because a cell can reconstitute the blood system of an adult upon transplantation does not necessarily mean that it is an adult stem cell. I think this finding challenges the paradigm that we’ve used to define when and where adult stem cells arise during development.

What's the biggest challenge you've faced in your research?

Being patient and realizing it always takes longer than you anticipate. I’m also a perfectionist, so I have always been my worst enemy and my worst critic and have had to learn to deal with myself!

What are you working on most intensely right now?

I’m working very hard to wrap up a few last experiments to publish my paper. This project was also recently funded by an RO1 so there are many new avenues that I am very busy investigating, including developmental origin and lineage potential of this novel HSC population.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

I’ve always been interested in development for a reason – I think development is fascinating because there is still so much to learn. We have learned so much about developmental hematopoietic pathways over the last couple decades, but I think the difficulty inherent in studying development makes it that much more exciting.

In your field, what do you hope we will know in five or 10 years that we don’t know now?

One of the biggest challenges and aims in the field is to be able to derive definitive HSC from pluripotent cells. I am a firm believer that we will only achieve that goal by better understanding and defining developmental hematopoietic pathways, and that is a goal I hope to contribute towards.

Who is your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

I have been very fortunate to have had a series of fantastic, supportive mentors throughout my training. That includes my current mentor, Dr. Camilla Forsberg. She provides me with a ton of support but also allows me the independence and flexibility to be creative and enjoy my science. I couldn’t ask for a better mentor.

What are your future career plans?

I hope to have my own lab one day soon.

What general advice would you give a young person considering a career in science?

Find a research topic that matters to you! If you’re not interested in your research topic, it’s going to be a very long haul. I have always been very excited about what I’m doing, and when I wasn’t – I’ve switched fields!

What are the results of a scientific career that makes it worthwhile and exciting?

I truly enjoy the daily intellectual challenge that a scientific career brings. Being able to use my brain in new and exciting ways every day is a real treat.

How were you introduced to ISEH?

I became introduced to ISEH when I first attended the Vancouver meeting in 2011. I was new to the field and I submitted an abstract and gave a short talk – I thought it was a great meeting.

What do you find most valuable about ISEH?

ISEH is highly focused on reaching out to young investigators. As a young investigator I have made a lot of connections with more established investigators through ISEH, which I really appreciate.

Why do you attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting?

I really enjoy the scientific content, the format, and the fact that there is ample opportunity for young investigators to present their work. I also really like the people and the atmosphere – very collegial and friendly. I have made a lot of good connections and I hope to continue doing so.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

Klauke enjoys attending the ISEH Annual Scientific meeting for the networking opportunities they offer for young scientists to interact with PI’s. She also values the opportunity that the ISEH meetings present for staying up to date with new research in her field.

Klauke kindly answered some questions for ISEH.

Tell us about your graduate education and the experience of being a graduate student.

I started University in 2001, and studied Biology in Groningen. In the first year we had to take all kinds of Biology courses including courses like Ecology, which did not interest me much. After the first year we could specialize in a few fields, and I chose Molecular and Medical Biology.

Who has most influenced you to become a scientist, and how did they influence you?

There is no particular person in my life that influenced me to become a scientist, although as a child, I was always fascinated by the story of the apple that fell from the tree that gave Isaac Newton the first clue about the existence of gravity. I didn’t think much about ‘becoming a scientist’ until I started thinking about going to University. In high school I always liked my science classes and did well in them.

My mother always tells me that as a young child, I could study small objects (like insects) for a long time. So I was just curious about everything.

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells fields?

During University I enjoyed these classes the most. Lectures about stem cells and their ability to reconstitute damaged tissue inspired me. Stem cells are really important for life, and hold great promise for regenerative medicine.

What is the overall aim of your research?

I just finished my PhD thesis on ‘epigenetic regulation of normal and malignant hematopoiesis.’ I will defend it on October 23.

Epigenetic mechanisms help to maintain the characteristic gene expression profile of stem cells, or to drive changes in gene expression that accompany the transition from hematopoietic stem cells to terminally differentiated blood cells. Our aim is to further our fundamental understanding of the epigenetic machinery that distinguishes hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal divisions from differentiation divisions. I studied Polycomb proteins that function in large Polycomb complexes, termed Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 and 2. Polycomb complexes can be constitutionally distinct and functionally complex, since for every core protein subunit, different family members exist that compete for incorporation. Our most intriguing result is that we showed that the composition of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 balances HSC self-renewal and differentiation (Klauke et al., Nat. Cell Biol 2013).

Tell us a little about the subject of your presentation.

One of the most important matters in understanding leukemic progression is to determine the nature and number of different leukemic stem cells (LSCs) and their clonal offspring within an individual cancer. Previously, we have shown that the Polycomb PRC1 member Cbx7 causes a spectrum of distinct leukemic types (immature, lymphoid or erythroid) after overexpression in bone marrow cells (Klauke et al, Nat. Cell Biol., 2013). By implementation of a barcoded retroviral Cbx7 expression vector, we generated a mouse model in which Cbx7 overexpression serves as the initial leukemic ‘hit’ and every pre-LSC is uniquely labelled.

In the presentation, I showed that the clonal organisation of leukemia can be more complex than previously anticipated. For example, we showed that the coexistence of different LSC clones with different properties in one leukemia is not uncommon, and we provided direct evidence of the quiescent nature of LSCs.

What's the biggest challenge you've ever faced in your research?

I am a young researcher and I am only just starting my career. For me, the biggest challenge is, and always will be, to balance my work and personal life. As a PhD student, you have very busy periods, when it is often necessary to work around the clock.

However, doing ‘social’ things with my boyfriend, family and friends also gives me new energy that I can put back into my work. So my work will also benefit when I take some time off. But, when I have important deadlines this can be hard to remember.

What are you working on most intensely right now?

Currently, I’m mostly focusing on finishing my PhD and preparing for the defense. After that, my goal is to get the work that I presented at ISEH published.

In your field, what do you hope we will know in five or 10 years that we don’t know now?

Stem cells can be modified by gene therapy for use in regenerative medicine. However, gene transfer has to be safe. In addition, the use of regenerative medicine relies on a proper understanding of the pathways involved in stem cells. I hope in the next 10 years, regenerative medicine will transition from a research promise to clinical reality.

Who is your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

That will be my boss/professor, Gerald de Haan. His door is always open to discuss new plans and results. He maintains an excellent balance between giving freedom to young scientists and giving them guidance on their PhD project. He also gives me a taste of the politics behind science every now and then, which is important when you want to continue your career in science. You need to know where the money is, how to get it, and whom you need to know.

What are your future career plans?

I am not certain, but I like science, helping in the lab, and teaching. It is a good career because you are your own boss in many respects, and usually your work schedule is pretty flexible, although in general you have to work hard.

My next step will be to apply for my own funding and create my own ‘scientific niche.’

What general advice would you give a young person considering a career in science?

Be curious and work together. Scientists become scientists because they are fundamentally curious about how things work. In science, you are not going to be in a laboratory all by yourself with no one to talk to. Take all opportunities to teach, speak, interact, and collaborate. Working together makes better science.

What are the results of a scientific career that makes it worthwhile and exciting?

The thing that I like most is that you can be completely creative. You think of an idea, you propose a hypothesis, you design the experiments and you analyze that data. Sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong. Even when your hypothesis is proven wrong, you have learned a lot.

What is your favorite ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting memory?

Dr. G. S.Bhattacharyya is a consultant at the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata, India. He is also in charge of the Department of Medical Oncology of the Fortis Hospital, in Anandapur, Kolkata, as well as of the Department of Medical Oncology in the AMRI Hospital of Dhakuria, Kolkata. Dr. Bhattacharyya is a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Breast International Group (BIG), the IASLC Committee, and the incoming president of the Indian Society for Medical and Pediatric Oncology (ISMPO). He has been a member of ISEH for two years, and values ISEH’s excellent website, which helps him keep up to date on the latest advances in the field of hematology and stem cell research.

Dr. Bhattacharyya began his career in 1984 as an Assistant Clinical Research Officer at the Indian Council of Medical Research in the School of Tropical Medicine in Calcutta. He was also a Principal Scientific Officer involved in setting up the Sickle Cell Research Center at Burla Medical College. This led to a keen interest in Hemoglobinopathy and Hemato-oncology. Dr. Bhattacharyya had a few key mentors; Professor D J Weatherall, Professor Asim Basu, Professor N. N. Sen, and Professor F. M. Goldman all impacted his career path, as he became an expert in the fields of malignant hematology, breast cancer, lung cancer, and innovative drug development.

Dr. Bhattacharyya was kind enough to answer some questions for ISEH.

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

I am most excited by the field of cytokines and immune-oncology and controlling the side effects of targeted therapy.

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab/facility?

The most exciting areas being studied are the interaction between coagulation and angiogenesis; beta blockers, sympathomimetics and angiogenesis; and beta blockers and COX-2 inhibitors, using m-TOR inhibitors.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

We are working to develop protocols, generate ideas, and provide monitoring.

Given your experience in the field, could you please elaborate on the changes that you saw in the field during the past 5 years?

Studies into the molecular basis of disease have been able to identify new variants of diseases in leukemia.

Targeted therapies have allowed for the use of drugs for specific diseases and specific sub-types like Rituximab in Lymphoma; JAK inhibitors in Myelofibrosis; and the scenario of myeloma changing with the use of Elotuzumab.

There have been major advances in the control of side effects, e.g. in the control of neutropenia. Better antibiotics have been developed, which are able to control infections, which were once the major killer in hematology.

Another great advance is in the use of extracellular matrix drugs that modulate the matrix to prevent seedlings of cancer cells.

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?

Medicine will become based on the four P’s: predictive, participatory, preventive, personalized. This will lead to an increase in survival with less toxicity, the treatment of most diseases as chronic diseases, and effective and economical medicine.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?

Cost, availability and accessibility, and bio-repositories.

Does your lab have any big studies or projects planned in the near future?

Yes, we are planning to study the interaction between COX-2 inhibitors and non-selective beta-blockers in multiple myeloma, as well as mTOR inhibitors in acute leukemia.

Why did you decide to pursue your research career in your native country?

I chose to come back to India for a few reasons. One reason is the different ethnic population. Indians and Asians are different from Caucasians genetically, so pharmaco-genomics varies widely and hence therapeutically is not relevant to this sub-group of population.

Another reason is the different socio-economical involvement. As the socio-economic situation in developing countries is not the same as in developed countries, the affordability of drugs and treatment becomes an issue. So cost-effective and comparative efficacy research becomes important. Additionally, there is a need in India to modify current and future technologies to suit different ethnic groups as well as be available to people in a variety of socio-economic situations.

What are the challenges and the rewards of working as a researcher in India?

Challenges include access to funds; the regulatory atmosphere; and a lack of awareness of clinical research among the media, politicians, professional, patients and public.

The biggest reward is having done something for the people who need you most.

How would you describe the funding climate in your country for biomedical research in general and for your specific type of research in particular?

Funds are limited and the geographical and socio-economical diversity of India are handicaps to multi-centric research.

What advice do you have for new investigators that are considering a return to your country to conduct research in general and in your field of expertise?

Be focused. Choose relevant problems. Keep in mind comparative efficacy research (CER). Believe in the principals of pharmaco-economics.

What advice do you have (if any) for your government to recruit high level researchers?

Develop 3 tier research systems at the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels.

Choose researchers appropriate for the positions available, and gear up the administration and think tanks needed to develop and evaluate talent.

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Dr. Achilles Anagnostopoulos is the Director and Head of the Hematology Department and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Unit at the G. Papanicolaou Hospital (GPH/HD-HCT), a tertiary referral center - the largest of its kind in Greece - with a capacity of 48 beds and a large outpatient clinic. It has a staff of 22 specialized hematologists, 16 residents in Hematology, 12 biologists, 15 laboratory technicians and 48 trained nurses.

The fields of hematology and stem cell research have always fascinated Dr. Anagnostopoulos. He has had a long-standing collaboration with Professors Thalia Papayannopoulou and George Stamatoyannopoulos who introduced him to ISEH. ISEH’s openness to new ideas originally attracted Dr. Anagnostopoulos to the organization, and he enjoys attending the ISEH annual meeting in order to follow the latest developments in stem cell research, meet international collaborators, and organize future actions.

Dr. Anagnostopoulos is excited by advances being made in his facility for gene and cell therapy of inherited and acquired diseases, particularly in gene therapy of thalassemia and GvHD.

Dr. Anagnostopoulos was kind enough to answer some questions for ISEH.

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

I have had the privilege of working under Professor John Goldman, who guided me in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation and also gave me the opportunity to receive training in molecular biology. Further on, I started a close and very productive collaboration with Professor Stamatoyannopoulos whose mentoring was instrumental in my career decisions.

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab/facility?

Our facility has always encouraged new investigators through active PhD and post-doc programs. In fact, in the last 12 years, my close collaborators and I personally have supervised the research activities of 15 PhD students. In addition, our department provides specialty training for 16 residents in hematology, several of whom follow a career in laboratory science as well.

Given your experience in the field, how have you seen the field change in the last five years?

We have come to have a stronger appreciation of the need for biologically-oriented treatment towards the aim of personalized medicine; to better define objectives; and, to understand limitations of existing approaches both in the clinic and the lab.

It’s clear that the field is going to continue to evolve at an amazing pace. How do you see it changing over the next five years?

Basic research will increasingly be linked to and interweaved with clinical practice, posing new challenges, as it will be difficult to decide what is clinically relevant and worth adopting into routine practice.

What do you consider the biggest challenge currently facing the hematology and stem cells scientific field and how can it be managed?

Currently, the biggest challenge is the enormous cost of novel treatments creating a relevant problem of exclusion and disparities.

Does your lab have any big studies or projects planned in the near future?

Yes, we will be holding a clinical trial of gene therapy for thalassemia.

Why did you decide to pursue your research career in your native country?

I am deeply committed to helping Greece as best as I can in both research and health administration.

What are the challenges and the rewards of working as a researcher in Greece?

Living in a country spending too little on research, it is evidently very difficult and frequently frustrating to follow a career in science. Nonetheless, he who dares wins.

How would you describe the funding climate in your country for biomedical research in general and for your specific type of research in particular?

National funding is limited, especially in this time of financial crisis.

What advice do you have for new investigators that are considering returning to your country to conduct research in general and in your field of expertise?

They have to be prepared to be patient, inventive and willing to pursue collaborations.

What advice do you have for your government to recruit high level researchers?

David Traver, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Section of Cell and Developmental Biology
University of California, San Diego, CA USA

Dr. David Traver is a professor and researcher in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He has been in the field of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell biology for 19 years, and an ISEH member for more than a decade. Dr. Traver’s lab is interested in the formation and function of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and how their progeny provide immunity in the young animal. While most of his lab’s studies are conducted in zebrafish, they have recently reinitiated studies in the mouse embryo and in human ES cells.

Dr. Traver finds immense value in the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting. "The meetings are wonderful,” he says. "They are large enough to bring in great science, but small enough to feel like family. Many great collaborations have been started at these meetings, which are always in wonderful locations around the globe.” Dr. Traver notes that he also appreciates "the outstanding science, and ability to reconnect with colleagues in the many excellent social programs.”

How did you find your way to the hematology and stem cells scientific field?

Who was your most influential senior investigator mentor and how did he or she help you?

How are you helping to mentor new investigators at your lab?

There are a lot of interesting aspects of this scientific field; what do you find the most exciting?

What is the most exciting study or project happening at your lab?

In addition, we should soon have the means to combine our direct imaging of HSC emergence with single-cell transgene activation. This will enable a level of precision in clonal fate mapping and leukemogenesis approaches not previously possible.

DT: Some of the most exciting developments are the marked improvements in whole genome approaches, sophisticated genetic approaches able to query gene function in specific lineages, and the dramatic improvement in live imaging techniques. These are all good examples of new technologies able to drive new scientific breakthroughs.

DT: I think that two of the biggest hurdles in the field of HSC biology will be cleared over the next 5-10 years; the instruction of HSC fate from human pluripotent precursors, and ex vivo expansion of human HSCs for transplantation approaches.

DT: The biggest challenge for our field is the same as for other fields in biological research – keeping good laboratories funded. We need to convince our political leaders to restore the long-term vision in education and research that made this country great.

DT: We are working with Thierry Jaffredo, Charles Durand, Pierre Charbord and Karl Willert to compare and contrast the molecules necessary to specify and support HSCs across evolution. Using the zebrafish, chick, and mouse embryo, we are working to determine the conserved core gene regulatory networks required for HSC emergence and subsequent maintenance. I am very excited about these collaborative studies.

DT: The funding climate is difficult but possible – many agencies are interested in regenerative medicine. We are fortunate to have CIRM here in California.

Presenting my first talk as a graduate student.

Hobbies: Music, hiking, backpacking, cocktails, hanging with my children.

Favorite book(s): The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, the Complete Poems of Stephen Crane.

Favorite movie(s): Lawrence of Arabia, Brazil, Stalker, Down by Law, The English Patient, Wings of Desire, I am Cuba, and The Wire series.

If you could meet one person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Dr. Kitamura’s interest in hematology and stem cell research began early in his career. "When I was working as a physician in the university hospital, I was very interested in observing the blood smears of patients with hematological malignancies,” Dr. Kitamura explains. "I wanted to understand the reasons behind the morphological changes of blood cells.” This curiosity motivated Dr. Kitamura to join the department of hematology-oncology at the hospital in 1983 as a clinical hematologist.

After six years of clinical and research training at the University of Tokyo and the Cancer Center Institute, Dr. Kitamura moved to the US to work at DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology as a postdoctoral fellow. It was here that he met a key mentor, his supervisor Dr. Atsushi Miyajima. "He allowed me to do the experiment based on my hypothesis,” says Dr. Kitamura of his supervisor. "He also gave me an important suggestion for establishing an expression cloning system based on retrovirus-mediated gene transfer, because he knew how interested I was in retrovirology. Through his work as a postdoctoral fellow at DNAX, Dr. Kitamura presented the first evidence for the common subunit shared between multiple cytokine receptors.

Four years later Dr. Kitamura started his own laboratory at DNAX Research Institute. He wanted to present his research findings at ISEH and become a member of the society. His lab now has thirteen graduate students, two postdoctoral fellows, three assistant professors, and a technician. Dr. Kitamura emphasizes the importance of understanding and valuing each student and fellow’s unique strengths. "I always try to encourage students and postdoctoral fellows to continue to think about science. I also make recommendations on how the students and fellows should proceed in their careers based on their individual aptitudes.” He often recommends that his students and fellows go abroad for their research. Dr. Kitamura also offers these wise words for new investigators entering the field: "Thinking is the most important and valuable part of being a scientist. If you love to think and speculate, you will have a better chance of becoming a great scientist.” He also explains that because researchers can now isolate hemopoietic cells as well as patients’ leukemic cells with high purities, research in hematology often leads other fields.

Dr. Kitamura’s current research focuses on genetic and epigenetic control of leukemogenesis, in particular the roles of mutations in epigenetic regulators including EZH2, TET2, and ASXL1. His research has made some exciting discoveries. "Mutations in EZH2, TET2 or ASXL1 alone induce MDS-like symptoms in mouse models. We identified one of the underlying molecular mechanisms of ASXL1 mutation-induced MDS,” Dr. Kitamura explains. In addition, Dr. Kitamura contributes to the field by offering a cytokine-dependent TF-1 cell line which he established from one of his patient in 1987, as well as a retrovirus vector pMX and a packaging cell line PLAT-E. These tools are now widely used by the scientific community.

Dr. Kitamura has also borne witness to the rapidly evolving nature of hematological research. He notes that comprehensive analyses are increasingly common, including whole genome sequencing; whole genome methylome; expression profiles, and ChIP-seq. Computers are now necessary to analyze the huge amount of data derived from these comprehensive studies. Additionally, he identifies the greatest challenge now facing the hematology and stem cells field: discovering a method to eliminate leukemic stem cells. "I do not know how it can be managed,” Dr. Kitamura states. "It’s possible that this goal will be reached with a chance factor.”

Dr. Kitamura comments that while he has been able to secure funding for his research thus far, there is an increasing tendency toward funding translational research rather than basic science, particularly since the development of iPS cells in Japan.

Dr. Kitamura has been a member of ISEH for over 20 years. In addition to holding the post of the Associate Editor for Experimental Hematology, he has also been a member of the Board of Directors, as well as a part of a number of ISEH committees. He enjoys being part of a close community with good basic and clinical science. He believes that ISEH offers many opportunities to young researchers. He is always happy to attend the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting to see his many friends within the ISEH community. His favorite ISEH memory is of driving the Monte Carlo F1 racecourse at an Annual Scientific Meeting.

Elaine Dzierzak, Ph.D.
Erasmus Medical Center
Erasmus Stem Cell Institute
Rotterdam, Netherlands

ISEH President-Elect Elaine Dzierzak, Ph.D., is professor of developmental biology in the department of Cell Biology at Erasmus University  and director of the Erasmus Medical Center Stem Cell Institute. As noted in the Annual Scientific Meeting article above, she is also chair of the 2012 Scientific Program Committee tasked with delivering this important meeting.

Not a problem for a woman whose career track has taken her to several countries and numerous prestigious institutions working within various disciplines.

"I initially started my research career as an immunologist,” Dzierzak explains. "My Ph.D. work at Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA) was on immunoglobulin specificity and idiotypes. These studies introduced me to mouse genetics. From there, I went on to do research on retroviral mediated gene delivery at the Whitehead Institute (Cambridge, MA, USA). By using in vivo mouse models of hematopoiesis, I found that the difficulty in most therapeutic approaches to hematopoietic disease is in the manipulation and expansion of hematopoietic stem cells. This gave me the idea of looking towards developmental processes to establish how hematopoietic stem cells are made in the embryo.”

Dzierzak was the first to demonstrate the expression of a retrovially transduced therapeutic gene in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) after bone marrow stem cell transplantation. After moving to the National Institute for Medical Research (London), she changed the long-held textbook dogma of the yolk sac origins of the adult hematopoietic system, showing that adult-type HSCs are generated from the embryonic aorta.

"Since we have demonstrated that hematopoietic stem cells are generated from hemogenic endothelium, our current studies focus on identifying the sequential expression of a number of pivotal transcription factors in the hemogenic endothelium and the downstream targets that are involved in the endothelial to hematopoietic transition,” she continues. "We will do this through our advanced embryo imaging methods and new mouse marker/mutant models.”

The ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting is among the important stimuli to her scientific work. It is also the place where she gets some ideas on meeting the challenges of her professional life – how to balance one’s personal and professional life and how to address the funding challenges due to the global economic crisis.

"For me the annual ISEH meeting is an extremely important conference,” she says. "I see many of my closest collaborators and colleagues, and I meet many young researchers. It is an energizing meeting that stimulates new ideas and an urgency to get back to the lab to start new experiments. I particularly enjoy the poster sessions, scientific and social interactions and the banquet, where I can dance with the students, postdocs and former ISEH presidents, especially dancing with whoever comes out on the dance floor like Thalia (Papayannopoulou) and Toshio (Suda).”

Music is important to Dzierzak.

"When not involved in science, I enjoy listening to music and going to concerts with my family and friends; we are big Bob Dylan fans,” she offers. "I also love to cook, especially with fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits when we are in the South of France for our holidays.”

Look for Elaine Dzierzak on the dance floor in Amsterdam. Or, connect with her now through the ISEH member database. Click here to learn more about her or to build your personal profile. You can also learn more about the Erasmus Medical Center Stem Cell Institute.

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Margaret Goodell, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Director, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, USA

Margaret "Peggy” Goodell, Ph.D., is ISEH vice president and serves on the 2012 Scientific Program Committee. She has been on the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine since 1997.

Her route to Baylor included some very interesting stops. Undergrad work was split between two continents – starting at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA and finishing at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England. Goodell’s Ph.D. was achieved at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.

"While looking for post-doctoral positions from graduate school, I was very interested in the future of cell and gene therapy,” Goodell recounts. "I realized that hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) were the key to long-term therapy of blood diseases, so I sought out Richard Mulligan's lab, for his combined interest in stem cells and gene therapy. Very few labs were interested in any kind of stem cells, so I was fortunate to find a small niche where their promise was recognized. There, my goal was to learn how to make HSCs replicate without differentiating, which I saw as critical to using them therapeutically. While no lab has yet achieved this goal, it led me to identify the Hoechst dye efflux properties of stem cells, and a new way to purify them. I have continued to use the "side population" purification strategy, refining it over time, as I have investigated the genes that regulate the normal function of HSCs.”

Mulligan’s lab was at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA. From there, she moved to Baylor. Goodell’s current work is focused on the regulation of normal HSCs, and what goes awry in cancer. She is particularly interested in how epigenetic mechanisms, specifically DNA methylation, control HSC self-renewal and differentiation. Recent entries in a long list of published manuscripts include "CD81 is essential for the re-entry of hematopoietic stem cells to quiescence following stress-induced proliferation via deactivation of the Akt pathway” in PLoS Biology and "Irgm1 protects hematopoietic stem cells by negative regulation of IFN signaling” in Blood.

In addition to her research, a rewarding part of Goodell’s work is the opportunity to work with those early in their careers and assist them in moving forward. Goodell directs a laboratory of about 20 students and post-doctoral fellows.

"At the 2011 ISEH meeting, I gave a workshop on academic career development,” she shares. "It was a thrill for me to present the workshop alongside Shannon McKinney-Freeman, who was my first graduate student, and now has an independent faculty position at St. Jude's Children's Hospital.”

In addition to her ISEH involvement, Goodell has served on the board of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (2005-2008), and on the Scientific Committee for Stem Cells for the American Society of Hematology (2009-2012). She currently is on the editorial boards of Cell Stem Cell and PLoS Biology, and serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and granting agencies.

She points to the tight funding situation as the biggest challenge facing academia today.

"The tight funding situation will slowly force changes in the way we do science,” she notes. "Universities and medical schools will have to adapt their expectations of the purpose of their stable of scientists, and we may see fewer trainees and more professional staff with time. As these changes will evolve slowly, we will have to anticipate and adapt to them in advance, or even better, lead them.”

While deeply involved with her work, Goodell strikes a balance by being equally as involved in the lives of her three young daughters, ages 11, 9 and 7.

"With them I get to dabble in lots of activities, such as re-learning the joys of things like poetry, history, algebra, Latin, piano and art,” she says. "Someday I might resume my personal hobbies, such as photography and exotic travel!”

ISEH members: Connect with Peggy through the ISEH member database. Click here to learn more about her or to build your personal profile. You can also learn more about the Goodell lab.

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Stephen M. Sykes Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Regenerative Medicine
Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University
Boston, MA, USA

Stephen M. Sykes, Ph.D., said it was "definitely glorious” to receive notification that he had been named the first recipient of the ISEH Eugene Goldwasser Fellowship, supported by Amgen. Sykes is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

The ISEH Eugene Goldwasser Fellowship, supported by Amgen, will be given annually to support the research activities of a deserving young investigator in the hematology field. Support will be a one-year, non-renewable $50,000 grant payable to the successful applicant's institution, for use as salary and/or other research support. The research may be basic or translational with a focus on experimental hematology, hematologic malignancies, hematopiesis or stem cell biology as it relates to hematology.

"This means a great deal to me,” Sykes exclaims. "It is a real honor to be chosen among what I can only assume were great candidates. Dr. Goldwasser's contributions to science are immeasurable, and I will definitely always look up to him. He did so much to translate work in the lab to the patient bedside. On a practical level, this fellowship provides me with protected time to carry out follow-up experiments on my current work.”

Sykes didn't start out to be a Ph.D. but as he moved along in his educational career, science found him.

"I grew up in Canada playing baseball,” he explains. "Well, the chances of playing professional baseball are relatively limited there. I received an opportunity to play baseball at a junior college in upstate New York. When I left, I promised my mother that I would put effort forth in my studies as well. Somewhere in those first two years, I realized that while I was a mediocre baseball player, I loved science and loved learning.”

His next stop on the education trail was a B.S. degree in biochemistry from Mount Allison University.

"At Mount Allison, my desire to pursue a career in biomedical sciences was strengthened by intense theoretical and practical coursework focused on the principles of molecular biology, metabolism and protein biochemistry,” he adds. "After graduation, I wanted to gain technical experience as well as perform research directed more towards cancer biology.”

Therefore, Sykes took a position in the laboratory of Dr. Xianxin Hua at the University of Pennsylvania.

"After the first six to eight weeks, I knew this was what I was meant to do,” Sykes concludes.

Two years later, he entered U Penn as a Ph.D. candidate and achieved his doctorate in cell and molecular biology in 2007. His first post-doc position took him to Dr. Gary Gilliland's lab at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston to study the role of the FOXO family of transcription factors in the maintenance of acute myeloid leukemia. When Dr. Gilliland left for industry, Sykes moved to David Scadden's laboratory at the Center of Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (Harvard University) and, with Dr. Scadden's encouragement, continued his work on FOXOs.

In Vancouver, Sykes will share his work that identifies a paradoxical role of the FOXO family of transcription factors supporting leukemia-initiating cell function in a multitude of genetically diverse acute myeloid leukemias.

"I attended the meeting in Melbourne last year and found it to be an intimate and interactive meeting,” he says. "I think ISEH is the right place for me, and I didn't need any encouragement to attend again in Vancouver. I really like the people I met at ISEH and the way they think about science.”

Sykes hopes that as he continues his work, it will become clearer to him how his research in the lab carries over to the clinic.

"The biggest challenge for me is to understand how basic research translates to patients,” he offers. "As a Ph.D., we have no patient contact and we can't set up clinical trials. We are still learning how our work moves forward to an effective drug. Maybe I can help find a way to work together with clinicians and industry to maximize everybody's knowledge.”

When asked what he likes to do outside of science, Sykes chuckled and said, "everybody in our field is constantly thinking about science.” However he indicates that the focus of his life outside of science is finding the energy to keep up with his three-year-old son.

"Man, that kid wears me out!”

ISEH members: Connect with Stephen through the ISEH member database. Click here to learn more about him or to build your personal profile.

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Hal E. Broxmeyer, Ph.D.
Chair, Professor and Scientific Director
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, IN, USA

2011 Donald Metcalf Award winner
Established in 1999 in honor of Professor Donald Metcalf, "the father of hematopoietic cytokines," for his pioneering work on the control of blood cell formation, this award recognizes distinguished scientists in the field.

"I met Don Metcalf when I was at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and I have the greatest respect for him,” Dr. Broxmeyer states. "I was counting my colonies under a microscope and he came up to me and asked, ‘what are you looking at?' He added "those are really nice.' I truly admire him for all the work he did to start the field while still doing bench work throughout his career.”

Dr. Broxmeyer is internationally recognized for pioneering studies on hematopoietic stem cell biology that lead to clinical utility. His publications have been cited more than 27,000 times; 85 of these have been cited at least 85 times (H-factor of 85; 1974-present), with 67 of these cited from 100-1,006 times (as of May 23, 2011).

He discovered that cord blood contained transplantable stem cells (PNAS 1989, NEJM 1989). His laboratory studies on cord blood stem/progenitor quality and numbers, methods for their efficient cryopreservation, and development of the first cord blood bank as proof of principle (PNAS 1989, 1992, 2002) were determining factors in the first five transplants which provided long-term engraftment and led to greater than 25,000 cord blood transplants done to date to treat malignant and non-malignant diseases.

Dr. Broxmeyer demonstrated that antagonizing CXCL12/CXCR4 with AMD3100 rapidly mobilizes stem cells to blood, and enhanced G-CSF induced mobilization (JEM 2005), a clinical protocol now used worldwide. He discovered that inhibiting CD26 peptidase enhances stem cell homing/engraftment (Science 2004) needed when limiting numbers of stem cells are available, studies now being evaluated in the clinic. He established the concept of direct and indirect negative feedback regulation of hematopoiesis by iron-binding proteins, chemokines (JEM 1978, 1981; Blood 1990) and other cytokines, and the in vivo efficacy of growth factors working in synergistic combination (PNAS 1987). Dr. Broxmeyer continues to work to gain mechanistic insight into stem cell function, and with others, and as part of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), and other advisory groups, to enhance the efficacy of cord blood and mobilized adult peripheral blood transplantation.

Microbiology was his initial field of study.

"When I was looking into where to go for my Ph.D., I met a woman that I've now been married to for 42 years,” Broxmeyer recounts. "Beth told me about this new field of experimental hematology. I followed her to New York University and began working in the laboratory doing hematological research.”

Toward the end of his Ph.D. work exploring the means to regulate the release of leukocytes from bone marrow, he got into his current emphasis on stem/progenitor cell biology. A post-doc position at Kingston General Hospital at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, was followed by eight years at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center before landing at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Ind. He is working on how embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells can be used to better understand hematopoietic stem cell biology.

"I love research; it excites me,” he follows. "I love to be the first one to learn what's going on so I still score some experiments.”

Dr. Broxmeyer is a long-time supporter of ISEH, having attended his first meeting in 1976 and served as president in 1991. He especially likes that the Society is not too big, allowing members to interact easily with one another and form lifelong relationships.

Outside of science, Dr. Broxmeyer has numerous interests including weightlifting, taking long walks with his wife, reading and watching movies when he just needs to relax. From 1994 to 1999, he took one of the top three spots in his age and weight division for Olympic style weightlifting at the U.S. National Master's Weight-Lifting Championships.

"When I was younger, I could clean and jerk 265 pounds, clean and press 245 pounds and snatch 205 pounds in New York City and state competitions at a body weight of about 170 pounds,” he states. "I wish I could still lift these poundages!”

Take a peek at a May 2010 video with Dr. Broxmeyer talking about cord blood banking and transplantation. ISEH members: Connect with Hal through the ISEH member database. Click here to learn more about him or to build your personal profile.

Iannis Aifantis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pathology
New York University School of Medicine
Early Career Scientist
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
New York, NY, USA

2011 McCulloch and Till Award winner
Established in 2004 in honor of Professor Ernest McCulloch and Professor James Till, this award recognizes junior scientists in the field of hematology and stem cells.

Dr. Aifantis has been on a fast moving train….studying biology, molecular biology and genetics in his home country's University of Crete, Dr. Aifantis then went to the University of Paris for his Ph.D. in immunology. Following his Ph.D., he took his post-doc at Harvard University's Dana Farber Cancer Institute and then had his own lab in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

He is currently an associate professor of pathology at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, co-director of the Cancer Stem Cell Program of the NYU Cancer Institute and an early career scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Dr. Aifantis' laboratory focuses on mechanisms of differentiation and transformation of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors. More specifically they focus on the molecular mechanisms of both lymphoid (ALL) and myeloid (AML, CMML) leukemia induction and maintenance. Their work has identified and studied novel oncogenes, tumor suppressors and downstream signaling pathways. They have also used these pathways to design molecularly targeted therapeutic protocols that could inhibit the induction or affect the maintenance of the disease. Moreover, the laboratory is studying mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and self-renewal using both genomic and genetic approaches.

"The biggest challenge for a researcher is that you end up realizing that to do science correctly, you will have to try to cover multiple fields and disciplines and that requires extensive collaborative effort,” Dr. Aifantis states.

Dr. Aifantis talked about changes he has seen even in his relatively short career.

"When I started 10 to 12 years ago, you could try to address questions by yourself or within your own laboratory,” he remembers. "That is almost impossible today. Today you must go outside of your lab, outside of your institution and outside of your city to find people who are willing to work together and cover all the different aspects of a project.”

ISEH has been a source of inspiration and collaboration.

"I am inspired by and follow a number of Society members who have done amazing work,” he adds. "And, I'm currently collaborating with some members. I will attend my first ISEH member in Vancouver and look forward to meeting many more colleagues.”

In his Vancouver presentation, Dr. Aifantis will likely cover his most recent findings on transformation of hematopoietic stem cells by epigenetic mechanisms. He'll also address enzymes that affect DNA methylation in myeloid leukemias.

His most recent publication in Nature discusses the origins of a type of myeloid leukemia and states that novel mutations in an intracellular communication pathway called Notch led to the cancer, pointing to a potential new target for treating this disease. Notch was already implicated in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but the new research found an unexpected role for it in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). Read more in the May 12, 2011 issue of Nature.

Outside of science, Dr. Aifantis points to dining and music as favorite activities.

"I truly enjoy dining, and that is why big cities like New York appeal to me,” he says. "I am always looking for different tastes as well as excellence in food preparation techniques. Music is important to me too. I used to be a DJ when I was younger, and I still follow new trends in music.”

Dr. Aifantis also includes traveling on his list of activities, especially to his home country Greece where his family still resides.

"In our field, our jobs take us to very interesting places,” he recounts.

ISEH members: Connect with Iannis through the ISEH member database. Click here to learn more about him or to build your personal profile.

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• A DEAB-sensitive aldehyde dehydrogenase regulates hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells development during primitive hematopoiesis in zebrafish embryos. Leukemia.
• Differential NOD/SCID mouse engraftment of peripheral blood CD34(+) cells and JAK2V617F clones from patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms. Leuk Res.
• Successful engraftment by leukemia initiating cells in ad! ult acute lymphoblastic leukemia after direct intrahepatic injection into unconditioned newborn NOD/SCID mice. Exp Hematol.
• FLT3/internal tandem duplication subclones in acute myeloid leukemia differ in their engraftment potential in NOD/SCID mice. Leuk Res.
• Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: current concepts and novel therapeutic strategies. Br Med Bull.
• Occult autologous haematopoietic regeneration without disease relapse following myeloablative allogeneic haematopoietic SCT for lymphomas. Bone Marrow Transplant.
• Mediastinal cryptococcosis masquerading as therapy-refractory lymphoma. Ann Hematol.
• CD20 expression in natural killer T cell lymphoma. Histopathology.
• Metabolic activity measured by F-18 FDG PET in natural killer-cell lymphoma compared to aggressive B- and T-cell lymphomas. Clin Nucl Med.
• Spontaneous central venous catheter fracture: relevance of the pinch-off sign. J Hosp Med.
• Sweet Syndrome due to Myelodysplastic Syndrome: Possible Therapeutic Role of Intrav! enous Immunoglobulin in Addition to Standard Treatment. Adv Hematol.
• T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia: an Asian perspective. Ann Hematol.

Dr. Leung relates some challenges facing him in his professional life today. "With conventional chemotherapy and even hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, the treatment outcome of most patients with acute myeloid leukemia is not satisfactory,” Dr. Leung states. "As a practicing hematologist, I feel the need and urgency to look for novel treatment for these diseases. Until recently, biomedical research has not been the focus of government policy in Hong Kong and local research has been limited by the availability of resources. Fortunately, the condition may improve as the public awareness of stem cell research has increased locally and we all expect more resources to be invested from government.” Another challe! nge facing this scientist is on the home front where he is instructing his sons, ages eight and 10, to clean the home aquarium. "I believed the trait of keeping up the aquarium should be inherited, but it isn’t,” he sadly concludes."

The move to Mount Sinai has allowed him to do things in a bigger way to further advance his research on the molecular and cellular nature of the undifferentiated stem cell "states" and how such states are altered during a change in cell fate. "Princeton did not have a medical school," Dr. Lemischka notes. "In order to transition to drug therapy and translational study related to human disease, I wanted to be at a research-based medical center." The Black Family Stem Cell Institute website states: "Progress in understanding the implications of stem cell research has been swift. Studies show that it is possible to reprogram adult skin cells into cells that are very similar to embryonic stem cells. Once stem cells can be grown and differentiated in a controlled way to replace degenerated cells and repair tissues, medical science may then be able to diagnose and cure many intractable diseases at their earliest stages, such as type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, various cardiovascular diseases, liver disease, and cancer.

"My Metcalf address in Melbourne will be a combination of several things," Dr. Lemischka says. "I’d like to give a historical perspective on how the field has moved along during my career and how my research has helped address important questions. I’ll talk about qualitative and systems biology, touch on my recently published and yet-to-be-published work, as well as share my very strong personal viewpoint of where we need to go to achieve clinical breakthroughs." Among his research published recently was "Patient-specific induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived models of LEOPARD syndrome," which was featured on the cover of Nature 465, 808-812 (10 June 2010). Dr. Lemischka is happy leading a team working to identify how and when things go wrong at the cellular level in order to learn to interfere with the process or block it to prevent these diseases "I come from a family heavily loaded with physicians, including my father," he recalls. "When I decided to go into the PhD world vs. becoming an MD, it caused considerable consternation with my father and mother. There came the time, however, when my father said to me ‘son, I’m glad you didn’t take my advice and go to medical school. Now I see what an impact your research has for medicine of the future.’ That was truly a special moment for me."

Dr. David Scadden is the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professor of Medicine at Harvard University. He and Professor Douglas Melton founded and jointly direct the Harvard Stem Cell Institute which is the largest institute dedicated to bringing stem cell biology to medical care in the world. With Professor Melton, Professor Scadden founded and co-chairs the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, the first department to span faculties in Harvard's 371-year history.
He is a hematologist/oncologist and directs the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) while also chairing the hematologic malignancies program in the MGH Cancer Center.
He is an expert on the medical applications of stem cell biology with a particular emphasis on their use in the settings of cancer and AIDS. He has published more than 250 scientific papers and book chapters, and his laboratory has made fundamental contributions regarding how the stem cell niche regulates stem cell function, in defining the molecules limiting stem cell growth, and in discovering a molecular basis for stem cell aging.
Dr. Scadden is the recipient of numerous honors including membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and awards from the Doris Duke Charitable Trust, the Ellison Medical Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
He has served or serves on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Cancer Institute, the Board of External Experts for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Board of Directors of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, and ISEH. He is an associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He serves on multiple editorial boards and scientific advisory boards and is a scientific founder of Fate Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company.

Dr. Toshio Suda is professor of developmental biology in the Sakaguchi laboratory in the School of Medicine at Keio University. He became enchanted by the secrets of hematopoiesis when studying in Dr. Makio Ogawa's lab at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and chose his life's work. The two proposed a stochastic model in the differentiation of stem cells, a classical work showing the independent differentiation of stem cells from growth factors.
Dr. Suda identified the niche for hematopoietic stem cells and subsequently established the new field of oxidative stress and stem cell aging. The interaction of stem cells and niches is one of the hot topics in stem cell biology today.

In addition to his efforts at Keio Univeristy, Dr. Suda serves the field through professional societies and publications, such as his role as ISEH president and Scientific Program Committee member, and member of the International Society of Stem Cell Research. He sits on the editorial boards of several publications including Blood (American Society for Hematology), Journal of Experimental Medicine, Cell Stem Cell, and Stem Cells. He is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Hematology (Japanese Society of Hematology).
Dr. Suda values his ISEH participation. "ISEH is a rather small international meeting where we can focus on in-depth discussion of timely topics. I appreciate the friendly atmosphere and look forward to reuniting with professional friends. At the Melbourne meeting, I am excited to once again see Dr. D. Metcalf, whose work on hemopoietic colonies taught me many things early in my career."
When not involved in his scientific pursuits, Dr. Suda is quite interested in history and would like to furthur understand ancient script and literature.