Stem Cells in Harmony: organising principles of cellular dynamics for human blood stem cells

The last decade of research in the field of experimental hematology revealed an extensive degree of heterogeneity in the hematopoietic stem and progenitor (HSPCs) compartment. Evidence of lineage priming and diverse differentiation potential for otherwise homogeneous populations have been collected, for both mouse and human cells. In stark contrast, little is known about the proliferative potential of those cells, beside stem cell quiescence. Cell division control and the impact on cellular dynamics is largely unknown. In this talk, I will describe how HSPCs sharing a common ancestry divide and differentiate, extrapolating some of the organising principles underlying the normal hematopoietic system. I will show how pathological hematopoiesis (acute and chronic leukemia) reveals a degradation of those properties, and how it can be reverted ex vivo.