Abstract
Our research aims to uncover how complex but stereotyped tissues are formed, maintained and regenerated through local growth, differentiation and remodeling. To decipher this fundamental question we need to understand how single cell behaviors are coordinated on the population level and how population-level dynamics is coupled to tissue architecture. Uncovering these regulatory principles will further facilitate development of stem cell (SC) therapies and effective treatments against cancers.
As a self-renewing organ maintained by distinct stem cell populations, the epidermis represents an outstanding, clinically highly relevant research paradigm to address these questions. We apply mouse genetics and molecular cell biology, combined with state-of-the art biological imaging, biophysics, biochemistry and theoretical approaches to study stem regulation and tissue homeostasis/aging in this system. In my presentation I will discuss our recent research on stem cell-niche interactions in cell fate decisions and plasticity, and the role of mechanical forces in these processes.
Our research aims to uncover how complex but stereotyped tissues are formed, maintained and regenerated through local growth, differentiation and remodeling. To decipher this fundamental question we need to understand how single cell behaviors are coordinated on the population level and how population-level dynamics is coupled to tissue architecture. Uncovering these regulatory principles will further facilitate development of stem cell (SC) therapies and effective treatments against cancers.
As a self-renewing organ maintained by distinct stem cell populations, the epidermis represents an outstanding, clinically highly relevant research paradigm to address these questions. We apply mouse genetics and molecular cell biology, combined with state-of-the art biological imaging, biophysics, biochemistry and theoretical approaches to study stem regulation and tissue homeostasis/aging in this system. In my presentation I will discuss our recent research on stem cell-niche interactions in cell fate decisions and plasticity, and the role of mechanical forces in these processes.
Bio
Sara Wickström studied Medicine at the University of Helsinki, Finland, receiving her MD in 2001 and PhD in 2004. After postdoctoral training with Reinhard Fässler at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, she was appointed as Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany in 2010. In 2018 her laboratory moved to the newly founded Helsinki Institute for Life Science at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Research in the Wickström lab aims to establish quantitative principles of epidermal stem cell niche self-organization, and how mechanical forces and cellular interactions integrate single cell behaviors to pattern multicellular tissues.
Specifically, the Wickström lab combines mouse genetics and human patient material with state-of-the-art scale-bridging technologies from nanoscale atomic force microscopy and next generation sequencing to whole organism live imaging and in silico modeling. The research is highly interdisciplinary and involves collaborations with mathematicians, physicists and clinical oncologists. Recent work from the Wickström group has uncovered how tissue-scale forces allow coordination of proliferation and differentiation events to regulate tissue morphogenesis and size. Furthermore, her laboratory has discovered how extrinsic forces generated by the tissue impact chromatin structure and epigenetic gene silencing, thereby controlling genome integrity, the transcriptional state and lineage commitment of stem cells.
Sara Wickström studied Medicine at the University of Helsinki, Finland, receiving her MD in 2001 and PhD in 2004. After postdoctoral training with Reinhard Fässler at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, she was appointed as Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany in 2010. In 2018 her laboratory moved to the newly founded Helsinki Institute for Life Science at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Research in the Wickström lab aims to establish quantitative principles of epidermal stem cell niche self-organization, and how mechanical forces and cellular interactions integrate single cell behaviors to pattern multicellular tissues.
Specifically, the Wickström lab combines mouse genetics and human patient material with state-of-the-art scale-bridging technologies from nanoscale atomic force microscopy and next generation sequencing to whole organism live imaging and in silico modeling. The research is highly interdisciplinary and involves collaborations with mathematicians, physicists and clinical oncologists. Recent work from the Wickström group has uncovered how tissue-scale forces allow coordination of proliferation and differentiation events to regulate tissue morphogenesis and size. Furthermore, her laboratory has discovered how extrinsic forces generated by the tissue impact chromatin structure and epigenetic gene silencing, thereby controlling genome integrity, the transcriptional state and lineage commitment of stem cells.