Studying lung stem cells in tissue maintenance, repair, and cancer (A12)

• Subject Area: Hematology, Oncology
• Term: from 2014 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 122491522

Despite recent advances in understanding the mesenchymal cell compartment in the lung, cellular and molecular mechanisms of epithelial lung stem and progenitor cell homeostasis and the regulation of their malignant counterparts in lung cancer are still poorly understood. We therefore developed various mouse models that are combined with functional testing and single-cell RNA sequencing to identify novel lung epithelial stem and progenitor cell activity, ascribe this activity to marker defined cell types, and understand regulatory pathways within these cell types. In addition, we determine the potential of these new and known stem and progenitor cells to act as cancer stem cells in KrasG12D-induced lung tumors with and without Stk33 loss.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 873: Maintenance and Differentiation of Stem Cells in Development und Disease
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Hanno Glimm; Professorin Dr. Claudia Scholl