Kristine focused on the isolation and functional characterization of fetal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during her CIRM Bridges year in Dr. Irving Weissman’s laboratory at Stanford University. HSCs are responsible for the lifelong production of blood and immune cells. HSC transplant is clinically established as effective treatment in both malignant and non-malignant disease, but HSCs remain in short supply. Additionally, attempts to produce HSCs in vitro on a clinical scale have not be successful.

Stress Urinary incontinence (SUI) is a urological condition in which urine uncontrollably leaks out in response to daily physical activities. SUI negatively impacts an estimated 15 million and costs over 12 billion healthcare dollars annually. Both women and men are affected however, women have additional factors; childbirth, menopause, previous surgeries, and age-related muscular atrophy that contribute to developing SUI.

Ischemic injuries including coronary and peripheral arterial clots can lead to stroke or myocardial infarction and ultimately, death of the tissue. Attempts to re-vascularize these tissues has been an active area of study but thus far clinical trials using various cell types, or recombinant proteins have shown little efficacy. Previously in our lab, we identified two unique populations in mice which, when combined, gave rise to de novo vessels in vivo following ischemic injury.

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare neurological disorder caused by loss of Ube3a protein in neurons. In all individuals, this loss occurs from the paternal allele due to genomic imprinting; at around week 10 of neuronal development, a long noncoding RNA, Ube3a-ATS, is transcribed from the paternal allele. Ube3a-ATS physically overlaps paternal Ube3a, thereby blocking its transcription. Individuals with AS have a complete absence of Ube3a expression in the brain due to a maternal loss of function.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disease characterized by a progressive loss of hyaline cartilage, leading to restricted movement and painful joints. Due to a lack of vasculature, low cellularity, and the low mitotic activity of chondrocytes, hyaline cartilage does not spontaneously regenerate. Microfracture (MF) surgery can be used to treat OA and works by stimulating production of de novo cartilage in the treated areas. However, fibrocartilage rather than hyaline cartilage forms in the area following surgery.

Familial Dyskinesia with Facial Myokymia (FDFM) is a rare autosomal dominant movement disorder characterized by involuntary tremors in the limbs and facial muscles with a wide range in severity of symptoms. Mutations in a gene highly expressed in the striatum, the adenylate cyclase 5 gene (ADCY5), have been linked to FDFM with the most severe phenotype associated with a gain of function mutation linked to elevated cAMP levels at amino acid 418 (arginine to tryptophan).

Lymphatic vascularization is essential for ensuring tissue regeneration and repair due to lymphatic vessels’ crucial role in maintaining normal tissue fluid homeostasis. Localized stimulation of lymphangiogenesis, the formation of new lymphatic vessels, is a promising strategy for addressing a range of disorders and tissue damage via restoration of lymphatic function. Such functions include resolving inflammation, removing waste molecules and cell debris from tissues, and regulation of immune surveillance and trafficking.

In Dr. Nolta’s lab, we are developing novel immune deficient mouse models for use in human stem cell research. The goal of our project is to verify human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) transduced with a lentiviral plasmid containing a working copy of N-Sulfoglucosamine Sulfohydrolase (SGSH) cDNA (hMSC-SGSH) as a therapeutic for direct application and amelioration of Sanfilippo in a novel immune deficient disease mouse model. Sanfilippo Syndrome, is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder which currently has no cure or effective treatment.

Genetics diseases are difficult to treat and the available drugs target small percentage of genetics diseases and provide no cures. With more understanding in human genome and CRISPR technology, genome editing could lead to cures. Dominate negative disease such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth provides a promising therapeutic targets for CRISPR technology to selectively inactivate the disease allele to test if cellular function can be restored.

Snyder-Robinson Syndrome (SRS) is a rare disease where patients harbor mutations in the spermine synthase (SMS) gene, resulting in multiple defects, including inadequate bone development. This defect has been suggested to be due to impaired osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). To elucidate how defective SMS leads to impaired osteogenesis, we generated a lentivirus to deliver shRNA to silence SMS expression. Effective silencing of SMS expression was confirmed by RT-PCR.