Publications by authors named "Carys Johnson"

Article Synopsis
  • Adult haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are essential for creating blood and immune cells, and their function is influenced by signaling pathways like JAK/STAT, specifically through the activation of STAT5.
  • STAT5 deficiency leads to decreased ability for HSCs to self-renew and repopulate various blood lineages, as well as increased differentiation and reduced quiescence, caused by both loss of traditional pSTAT5 signaling and distinct roles played by unphosphorylated STAT5 (uSTAT5).
  • The study suggests that targeting the JAK1/2 pathway with inhibitors like ruxolitinib can improve HSC maintenance and reduce differentiation, potentially providing a strategy for enhancing stem cell function
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Loss of long-term hematopoietic stem cell (LT-HSC) function ex vivo hampers the success of clinical protocols that rely on culture. However, the kinetics and mechanisms through which this occurs remain incompletely characterized. In this study, through time-resolved single-cell RNA sequencing, matched in vivo functional analysis, and the use of a reversible in vitro system of early G1 arrest, we defined the sequence of transcriptional and functional events that occur during the first ex vivo division of human LT-HSCs.

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Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are expanding due to increased sea surface temperatures, subsequent increased oxygen demand through respiration, reduced oxygen solubility, and thermal stratification driven in part by anthropogenic climate change. Devil's Hole, Bermuda is a model ecosystem to study OMZ microbial biogeochemistry because the formation and subsequent overturn of the suboxic zone occur annually. During thermally driven stratification, suboxic conditions develop, with organic matter and nutrients accumulating at depth.

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Adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are predominantly quiescent and can be activated in response to acute stress such as infection or cytotoxic insults. STAT1 is a pivotal downstream mediator of interferon (IFN) signaling and is required for IFN-induced HSC proliferation, but little is known about the role of STAT1 in regulating homeostatic hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). Here, we show that loss of STAT1 altered the steady state HSPC landscape, impaired HSC function in transplantation assays, delayed blood cell regeneration following myeloablation, and disrupted molecular programs that protect HSCs, including control of quiescence.

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Bone marrow haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are vital for lifelong maintenance of healthy haematopoiesis. In inbred mice housed in gnotobiotic facilities, the top of the haematopoietic hierarchy is occupied by dormant HSCs, which reversibly exit quiescence during stress. Whether HSC dormancy exists in humans remains debatable.

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Lifelong blood production is ensured by a population of rare and largely quiescent, long-lived hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The advent of single-cell technologies has recently highlighted underlying molecular and functional heterogeneity within the HSC pool. Despite heterogenous HSC behaviors, quiescence remains as the most uncontroversial and unifying property of HSCs.

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