Congratulations to graduate student, Damola Elujoba-Bridenstine for her recent co-first author publication in Blood! Her paper identifies a direct role for neurotransmitter receptor, GABBR1 in HSPC proliferation in the bone marrow. Brief ex vivo treatment of umbilical cord blood (UCB) HSPCs with a GABBR1 agonist showed significant increases in long-term engraftment of HSPCs compared with GABBR1 antagonist or vehicle treatments. Her studies identify a potential target to improve HSPC engraftment in clinical transplantation. Yay Damola!
Shao L, Elujoba-Bridenstine A, Zink KE, Sanchez LM, Cox BJ, Pollok KE, Sinn AL, Bailey BJ, Sims EC, Cooper SH, Broxmeyer HE, Pajcini KV, Tamplin OJ. The neurotransmitter receptor Gabbr1 regulates proliferation and function of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Blood. 137(6):775-787, 2021.