Unraveling the role of HES6 in normal and malignant hematopoesis in human.

The cells in our blood have several critical functions, including oxygen transport, prevention of
continuous bleeding when wounds occur and protection against invading pathogens such as
bacteria and viruses. All these cells are derived from one particular cell type, the so-called
hematopoietic stem cell that replenishes itself and that has the potential to generate all the
various blood cell types. These processes are regulated through the activity of various proteins and
require a strict regulation of their function. Aberrations in these processes therefore often result in
malignancies, such as leukemia. In this research proposal, we wish to study the function of HES6, a
protein that belongs to a larger family of regulatory molecules that are important for normal blood
cell development, but also often implicated in leukemia when misexpressed. We will study its role
during blood cell development in human and particularly in AML, thereby generating results that
have the potential for immediate clinical impact.