education, training, board certifications
- M.D., University of Athens, Greece
- Dr.Sci., University of Athens
- Residency in Medicine, University of Athens
- Fellowship in Hematology, University of Washington
clinical expertise
- Congenital and acquired disorders of globin and erythropoiesis
affiliations
Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine
publications
clinical and/or research interests
Dr. Thalia Papayannopoulou’s laboratory has been engaged in studies of cellular and molecular aspects of globin gene regulation and erythropoiesis in general, both at steady state and after stress for over 25 years. During that time several approaches were pioneered and employed, including: creation of heterospecific hybrid cells using human erythroid cells across all developmental spectrum; development of anti-human globin chain specific monoclonal antibodies; delineation of the kinetics of globin expression during differentiation of human erythroid cells cultured in vitro; first characterization of globin profile of erythroid cells differentiated from human ES cells and iPS cells; and description of globin expression post transplantation of either adult or fetal cells.
Additional aspects of hematopoiesis/erythropoiesis studied include the impact of integrins, especially VLA-4 and β1-integrins, on the retention of stem/progenitor cells in bone marrow niches at baseline and on the stem cell self-renewal post transplantation; specifically on erythropoiesis β1-integrins contribute significantly to erythroid cell expansion and terminal differentiation post stress, whereas red cells generated in their absence have impaired response to ROS and shorter survival. These studies were enabled through the generation of conditional mouse models with deletion of specific integrins (α4β1-, α5β1-, or all β1-integrins) in either primitive hematopoietic cells, or specifically in erythroid cells. Dr. Papayannopoulou’s experience in the latter aspects of hematopoiesis is exemplified by several solicited reviews and commentaries.
