Kristen L. Kroll, PhD

Associate Professor of Developmental Biology

Washington University in St. Louis (WU)

We are interested in understanding how embryonic and embryonic stem (ES) cells regulate self-renewal, lineage commitment, and differentiation and are studying these questions in the context of vertebrate neural development. A major focus of our work is on chromatin regulatory proteins, including the SWI-SNF and Polycomb complexes and the novel protein Geminin. These complexes critically regulate transcription to control self-renewal and differentiation in multiple cell contexts. They also regulate cell cycle progression and maintain genome integrity and their dysregulation is a pivotal aspect of multiple human malignancies.