# The Role of Wnt Signaling in Normal and Abnormal Hematopoiesis

> **NIH NIH R00** · SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $247,229

## Abstract

Project Summary
Environment: The University of California (UC) is a leading academic research institution where senior
scientists have a long-standing tradition of training the next generation of scientists at UC, where seven percent
of the nation’s Ph.D.’s are awarded each year and more than six thousand post-doctoral fellows choose to
conduct their research. The UC campus in San Diego (UCSD) is key component, excelling at collaborative and
innovative biological science. The environment here is rich in scientific discussion, training and exposition, with
the Salk and Sanford-Burnham institutes within walking distance. Dr. Grainger has access to a wide variety of
training sessions, classes and seminars for personal development and expansion of her scientific and leadership
skills. There are a wealth of career development seminars available to be attended on a weekly basis, in addition
to the innumerable scientific seminars. Research efforts are able to run smoothly here, due to the abundance of
core facilities and expertise available in any area of science.
Candidate: Dr. Grainger is a postdoctoral fellow in David Traver’s lab at UCSD whose ultimate career goal is to
lead a research lab focused on stem cells at an R1 University. She was recruited to join Dr. Traver’s lab because
of her strong background in developmental biology, Wnt signaling and animal models. Over the past 3.5 years,
she has been working in collaboration with Dr. Karl Willert’s lab at UCSD, which has led to two publications: One
is now published at Cell Reports; the second is currently in press at Zebrafish. Dr. Grainger is a leader in the
lab, having established this project and being the driving force of the collaborative efforts of the Traver-Willert
group. She is also a leader outside of the lab, where she organizes a postdoc seminar series focused on stem
cells, enriching the community around her. She is well poised to execute the proposed work, achieve her career
development and training goals and to contribute high impact research to the scientific community.
Research: All mature blood cells are derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Generating HSCs in vitro
from pluripotent precursors such induced pluripotent stem cells would allow us to treat diseases such as
leukemias and lymphomas with in vitro derived HSCs, circumventing the need for bone marrow donation. This
would also establish an important cellular tool for understanding the underlying mechanisms of hematopoietic
diseases. The overarching goal of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of one of the developmental
cues that instruct HSC fate from mesoderm, the Wnt signaling cascade. This study will be conducted in zebrafish,
which are an ideal system for direct visualization of blood stem cells and have conserved genetics. I hypothesize
that an early Wnt/Fzd cue regulates later HSC amplification, which has an impact on adult HSC homeostasis. I
propose to test this hypothesis by 1. Characterizing th...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9988959
- **Project number:** 5R00HL133458-04
- **Recipient organization:** SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephanie Laura Grainger
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $247,229
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9988959

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9988959, The Role of Wnt Signaling in Normal and Abnormal Hematopoiesis (5R00HL133458-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9988959. Licensed CC0.

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