Ep. 321: “Decoding Blood Stem Cells” Featuring Dr. Vijay Sankaran

About this episode

Dr. Vijay Sankaran discusses the regulation of blood stem cells and advancements in therapies for blood diseases.

Guest: Dr. Vijay Sankaran is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He discusses how his lab uses human genetics and stem cell biology to uncover mechanisms regulating hematopoiesis and blood disease, including the discovery of key regulators such as BCL11A and HOTSCRAMBL. He also explores how advances in genome editing, stem cell engineering, and single-cell genomics are shaping new therapies for disorders such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and leukemia, while highlighting the challenges of translating these breakthroughs into scalable patient treatments. Featured Products and Resources: Join us at ISSCR 2026 to catch the latest breakthroughs Learn to confidently apply the ISSCR Standards for Human Stem Cell Use The Stem Cell Science Round Up Building Pancreatic Cancer Models – A stem cell-derived organoid model reveals genetic and epigenetic mechanisms driving human pancreatic cancer initiation. Functional Cancer Stem Cell Assays – Researchers have developed a microwell platform that enables rapid enrichment of breast cancer stem cells for personalized drug testing. Human Pacemaker Assembloids – A human cardiac…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr. Vijay Sankaran

Topics covered

• blood stem cells
• hematopoiesis
• genome editing
• stem cell engineering
• blood disease therapies
• sickle cell disease
• leukemia

Keywords

• blood stem cells
• hematopoiesis
• BCL11A
• HOTSCRAMBL
• genome editing
• sickle cell disease
• thalassemia
• leukemia

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, ISSCR

Products: ISSCR Standards for Human Stem Cell Use, Functional Cancer Stem Cell Assays, Human Pacemaker Assembloids, Building Pancreatic Cancer Models

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