EMBO Member

Yann Barrandon

EPFL, Lausanne | Switzerland

EMBO 2009

Potency and plasticity of epithelial stem cells

My current research targets the influence of small micro-environmental variations on stem cell behavior and exploring the potency of stem cells of stratified epithelia and of thymic epithelial cells. We study the factors that regulate stem cell engraftment to improve epithelial cell therapy, with the aim of setting up a pilot clinical trial to demonstrate the feasibility of ex vivo gene therapy to treat Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa, a congenital disease of the skin.

Keywords: Epithelial stem cell / niche / plasticity & reprogramming / hair follicle / thymus

Subject area(s): Development | Differentiation & Death | Molecular Medicine