Signal Integration

How are systemic, intrinsic, and extrinsic cellular inputs integrated in individual hematopoietic progenitors to produce particular cell fate outputs?

One distinct advantage of Drosophila is the ability to use genetics to dissect complex pathways that integrate signals from multiple organs, which ultimately impact the hematopoietic system. Past studies have found that oxygen deprivation, or hypoxia, directly and indirectly affects the immune system through a complex signal relay that involves the brain, fat body/liver, and lymph gland/hematopoietic tissue in the Drosophila larva. My newly developed live imaging system allows monitoring of the lymph gland, circulating blood system, and multiple non-hematopoietic tissues, simultaneously, for the study of how environmental factors and systemic signals interact with intrinsic mechanisms that control hematopoiesis. I will use this system to study how specific hematopoietic events are precisely timed and coordinated during development.