Stem cell control

Many mammalian tissues contain pools of quiescent adult stem cells, which are only activated in pathological conditions or upon injury and have been proposed to act as a backup population. Regulation of stem cell quiescence and the intrinsic mechanisms by which cells sense and respond to injury-related signals are not well understood.
To unravel such mechanisms, we study recently discovered quiescent adult neural stem cell in the genetically accessible model organism Drosophila, which are activated upon traumatic brain injury by stab lesion (Fernandez-Hernandez et al., 2013)
To reach this goal, we perform whole genome expression profiling (microarrays and RNAseq) in combination with powerful functional RNAi assays and expression studies to validate candidate genes, followed by detailed characterization of conserved components.