The Gritsman Laboratory

The Gritsman lab studies the signal transduction pathways that affect the early fate decisions of adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) as they progress from an undifferentiated multipotent state to the generation of mature blood cells. We are also studying how signaling pathways are used by leukemic cells, and especially leukemic stem cells, aiming to design and test new therapeutics that would specifically target leukemic cells and not normal HSCs, to prevent disease relapse. We are also studying how healthy HSCs and leukemic stem cells interact with the bone marrow microenvironment and the immune system.