Self-renewal and differentiation properties of sensory stem cells
1st Supervisor:Professor Andrea Streit
2nd Supervisor: Professor Agi Grigoriadis
Description of project
The sense organs provide information from our environment such as vision, sound, balance and smell. This input is crucial for communication throughout life, but also for the development of speech and social interactions in new born children. Visual and hearing impairment are among the most common birth defects and affect more than 50% of the population over 60, however many of the underlying causes remain unknown. During development sense organs arise from multipotent progenitor cells that become more specialised over time. We study how these sensory stem cells are initially set aside and how they differentiate into specific cell types within the eye, ear and nose.
This project will first investigate the self-renewing and differentiation properties of sensory progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo. Second, it will explore the functional role of new candidates we have recently identified in conferring stem cell properties and in driving multi-potent progenitors towards specific cell types within the eye and ear.
Duration of project: 4 years
Contact for further information
Professor Andrea Streit
Email: andrea.streit@kcl.ac.uk
Research Topic: Craniofacial Development and Stem Cell Biology
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