Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
Our research focuses on the signals important in early lymphocyte development, specifically how DNA damage responses integrated with cytokine signals to direct differentiation and maturation. We study cellular pathways triggered by physiologic and genotoxic DNA breaks and how these signals balance survival, cell death and developmental programs to ensure that lymphocytes make functional antigen receptors and continue development. These mechanisms are critical for maintaining genomic integrity and errors in these pathways can lead to translocations and leukemogenesis.