Control of erythropoiesis and megakaryopoiesis by environmental factors

Every second we humans regenerate billions of erythrocytes and platelets. Degradation and biosynthesis at this rate needs to be well balanced in response to environmental factors to compensate for bleeding or adapt to the availability of nutrients.
We use advanced in vitro cultures to investigate (i) how environmental factors control the execution of the internal genetic programming of the erythroid and megakaryocytic cells, and (ii) how inborn DNA mutations in patients with congenital anemia or thrombocytopenia cause these chronic diseases, and (iii) we establish protocols for large scale production of erythrocytes and platelets for transfusion purposes.