Sophia Engelhard

Name: Sophia Engelhard

Nationality: German and French

Academic Background: M.Sc. in Biology

Project Title: Functional characterisation of Endomucin in haematopoietic stem cells

Project Background: All our blood cells originate from blood stem cells. These proliferate and differentiate in regular intervals to replace old cells in our blood, but can also ensure we have enough blood cells after blood loss due to injuries or infections. When these cells disfunction however, they can cause blood cancer, leukaemia. In order to treat leukaemia, we first need to understand how the healthy blood system functions, specifically with regard to blood stem cells. For that, different blood types are isolated and studied for research purposes.

Our blood is composed of different types of cells. Each cell type has an individual surface, which does not only protect the cell, but is also responsible for the communication between cells. This communication is possible thanks to specific molecules, which are different and specific for each cell type. Therefore, the different blood cell types can be distinguished based on their cell surface molecules.

We can currently isolate blood stem cells with a purity of 10% in human and 50% in mouse with our current knowledge of cell surface markers. Our group has recently identified an additional marker which is called Endomucin.

Project Aim: Our aim is to investigate the function of Endomucin in haematopoiesis and to establish the protein as a cell surface marker for murine and human HSCs.

Expected Outcome: We expect to refine the immune-phenotype of human and murine HSCs with the inclusion of Endomucin as an additional cell surface marker so that we increase the purity of isolated stem cells. Furthermore, we expect to improve our understanding of the role of Endomucin in haematopoiesis and its function in blood stem cell biology.

Contact: sophia.engelhard@bric.ku.dk