Researches blood formation with a focus on red blood cells and the genetics underlying defects leading to anemias.
Our research focuses on blood formation, or hematopoiesis, with a major emphasis on the development of red blood cells (erythropoiesis). Defects in the production, structure and/or function of red blood cells, the oxygen-carrying cells of the body, lead to anemia. Anemia affects about 1.6 billion people worldwide, imposing an enormous burden on medical resources. We use the mouse as a model system to elucidate the genetic basis of human inherited anemias, which include defects in iron and heme metabolism and transport, sickle cell disease, bone marrow failure and the anemia of aging. Mice are an excellent model system in which to pursue these studies for many reasons. Blood formation in mice and humans is remarkably similar, and mice get the same types of anemias due to the same underlying genetic causes as humans’. Identifying the genes that go awry to produce anemia is the first step in developing new therapeutics for its prevention and treatment. We study both single-gene (Mendelian) defects and complex, polygenic phenotypes that arise from natural genetic variation in inbred strains and other reference mouse populations. We utilize the most state-of-the- art genetic techniques in both genotype- and phenotype-driven approaches to identify and functionally analyze genes critical to erythropoiesis and red cell structure, function and survival.
1988
Ph.D., University of Maine, Orono, ME
(Zoology/Genetics)
1979
MS, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
(Physiology/Endocrinology)
1977
BA, University of Maine, Orono, ME
(Zoology)
2005-2010 and 2011-present
Professor
The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
2012-present
Adjunct Professor
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY
2013-present
Affiliated Professor
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
2011-present
Graduate Faculty
University of Maine, Orono, ME
2010-2011
Member
Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute,
New York Blood Center, New York, NY
2000-2010
Director, The Jackson Laboratory National Institutes of Health
(NHLBI) Program for Genomic Applications
2008-2010
Director, The Jackson Laboratory Aging Center
2000-2005
Associate Professor
The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
1994-2000
Assistant Professor
The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
1993-1994
Instructor in Pediatrics, Children's Hospital,
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
1991-1993
Postdoctoral fellow
Children's Hospital, Division of Hematology/Oncology,
Harvard Medical School and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
1988-1991
Postdoctoral fellow
The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
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