Ruohola-Baker, Hannele

My laboratory is interested in understanding the molecules and cellular properties that are required for stemness both in normal and pathological situations.  During the recent years we have shown that microRNAs and HIF pathways play key roles in regulating adult and embryonic stem cell self-renewal.  We are now in the process of understanding the function of HIF dependent metabolomic differences in stem cells.  My laboratory offers fruitful and multi-disciplinary approaches for understanding the dynamics and differentiation of stem cells since we use multiple in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro models ranging from Drosophila to mouse to hESC and iPSCs to understand the regulation of regeneration.  Recently, through unbiased Drosophila interaction screen we discovered that increasing the sphingosine-1-phosphate pathway (S1P) has therapeutic effects on muscular dystrophies.  Increased S1P levels also show a beneficial effect in adult stem cell based muscle regeneration in mdx, the mouse model for DMD.  These basic studies are directed towards a long-term goal of stem cell and small molecule based therapeutics.