The increasing number of elderly affected by age-related blood dysfunction and malignancies is one of the most significant public health challenges today. A major contributor to this age-related decay is the loss of blood stem cell function. Nevertheless, we know little of how blood stem cells become dysfunctional with age. Our previous work demonstrates that blood cell size is a key determinant of stem cell function and that enlargement of blood stem cells contributes to their fitness decline during aging. This project is anticipated to reveal how blood stem cells lose their fitness upon enlargement during aging and whether this increase in their size facilitates cancerous transformation. It is essential to further our understanding of the role of stem cells in aging and cancer to offer new therapeutic implications for rejuvenation therapies that improve stem cells function and thereby preserve the health of an aging or cancerous blood system.

2021

2026