Investigating the role of differentially expressed glutamine synthetase in aged haematopoietic stem cells.

Many diseases become more common with age, including infections and many types of blood cancer.

My research focus is to understand how the bone marrow changes with age and how this might contribute to the development of age-related diseases. Our blood stem cells live in a highly specialised and supportive environment inside the bone marrow.

They are responsible for producing all of our blood cells: the red blood cells which carry oxygen, the white blood cells that fight infections and platelets which help the blood clot.

With increasing age this process becomes less efficient, the overall stem cell health becomes impaired and as a result fewer healthy blood cells are produced.

In this proposed research project I plan to identify the changes within the stem cells that drive their decline in function.

Furthermore, I will explore how age-related changes in the supportive bone marrow environment influence stem cell health and function.

In particular I will look at how genetic changes affect some of the pathways involved in energy production and maintenance of key building blocks in the stem cell.

I hope that by understanding how stem cells change with age, we may be able to target these changes in the future to promote more effective blood cell production, for example, to help fight an infection.