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RESEARCH & MENTORING
Our goal is to improve human health by identifying targets and novel therapies that will advance regenerative medicine to treat blood disorders such as myelodysplasia and leukemia.
For that end, our team is working on deciphering the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to blood formation. These are the same mechanisms that are disrupted in blood disorders, therefore a better understanding of the basic biological mechanisms that operate naturally in the vertebrate organism will translate to the improvement of blood disorders.
We utilize the zebrafish (Danio rerio) as animal vertebrate model to study how blood is created during embryo development in vivo. This unique model provides the entire context of an organism, that allows for blood formation deciphering. Once understood, in vitro experiments with human cells in combination with bioinformatics tools and single cell biology are utilized for the translation of the findings to human health.
Collaboration among disciplines and a collegial work environment are our strengths to make an impact for humanity.
Furthermore, we are committed to contribute to Iowa State University focus on providing excellent Biology education, facilitating an outstanding environment of training and support to the next generation of brilliant scientists.
PUBLICATIONS
Clyde Campbell*, Joseph J. Lancman*, Raquel Espín Palazón, Jonatan Matalonga, Jiaye He, Alyssa Graves, Xin-Xin I. Zeng, Rashmi Mishra, Jan Huisken, David Traver, and P. Duc Si Dong. In vivo lineage conversion of vertebrate muscle into early endoderm-like cells. bioRxiv (2019) Aug 9. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/722967
Espín-Palazón R, Weijts B., Mulero V., Traver D. Proinflammatory Signals as Fuel for the Fire of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Emergence. Review article. Trends Cell Biol. (2018) Sep 4. pii: S0962-8924(17)30140-X. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2017.08.003. PMID: 28882414.
van der Vaart M, Svoboda O, Weijts BG, Espín-Palazón R, Sapp V, Pietri T, Bagnat M, Muotri AR, Traver D. Mecp2 regulates tnfa during zebrafish embryonic development and acute inflammation. Dis Model Mech. (2017). Oct 9. pii: dmm.026922. doi: 10.1242/dmm.026922. PMID: 28993314
Espín-Palazón R, Traver D. The NF-κB family: Key players during embryonic development and HSC emergence. Review article. Experimental hematology (2016). Jul;44(7):519-27. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2016.03.010. PMID: 27132652
Espín-Palazón R*, Martínez-López A.*, Roca F. J., López-Muñoz A., Falco A., Meseguer J., Estepa A., Mulero V. TNF impairs rhabdoviral clearance by inhibiting the host autophagic antiviral response. Plos Pathogens (2016). Jun 28;12(6):e1005699. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005699. PMID: 27351838
Grainger, S.*, Richter, J.*, Espín-Palazón, R, Pouget, C., Lonquich, B., Wirth, S., Grassme, K.S., Herzog, W., Swift, M.R., Weinstein, B.M., Traver, D. and Willert, K. Wnt9a is required for the aortic amplification of nascent hematopoietic stem cells. Cell Rep. (2016), 17(6):1595-1606. PMID:27806298
Butko E., Distel M., Pouget C., Weijts B., Kobayashi I., Ng K., Mosimann C., Poulain F. B., McPherson A., Ni C-W, Stachura D. L., Del Cid N., Espín-Palazón R, Lawson N. D., Dorsky R., Clements W. K., and Traver D. Gata2b is a restricted early regulator of hemogenic endothelium in the zebrafish embryo. Development (2015). Mar 15;142(6):1050-61. doi: 10.1242/dev.119180. PMID: 25758220
Candel S., Sepulcre M. P., Espín-Palazón R., Tyrkalska S. D., de Oliveira S., Meseguer J., Mulero V. Md1 and Rp105 regulate innate immunity and viral resistance in zebrafish. Developmental & Comparative Immunology (2015). Jun;50(2):155-65. doi: 10.1016/j.dci.2015.01.005. PMID: 25681741
Candel S*, De Oliveira S*, López-Muñoz A, García-Moreno D, Espín-Palazón R, Tyrkalska SD, Cayuela ML, Renshaw SA, Corbalán-Vélez R, Vidal-Abarca I, Tsai HJ, Meseguer J, Sepulcre MP, Mulero V. Tnfa signaling through Tnfr2 protects skin against oxidative stress-induced inflammation. PLoS Biology (2014). May 6;12(5):e1001855. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001855. PMID: 24802997
Espín-Palazón R, Stachura DL, Campbell CA, García-Moreno D, Del Cid N, Kim AD, Candel S, Meseguer J, Mulero V, Traver D. Proinflammatory signaling regulates hematopoietic stem cell emergence. Cell (2014). Nov 20;159(5):1070-1085. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.031. PMID: 25416946
Stachura DL*, Svoboda O*, Campbell C, Espín-Palazón R, Lau RP, Zon LI, Bartunek P, Traver D. The zebrafish granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (Gcsfs): 2 paralogous cytokines and their roles in hematopoietic development and maintenance. Blood (2013). Dec 5;122(24):3918-28. doi: 10.1182/blood-2012-12-475392. PMID: 24128862
Espín-Palazón R*, Roca F J*, Candel S, Sepulcre M P, González-Rosa J M, Alcaraz-Pérez F, Meseguer J, Cayuela M L, Mercader N, Mulero V. Tumour necrosis factor receptors regulate endothelial cell survival and vascular homeostasis through a caspase-8, caspase-2 and P53 apoptotic program that bypasses caspase-3. Disease Models and Mechanisms (2013). Mar;6(2):383-96. doi: 10.1242/dmm.010249. PMID: 22956347
* Equal contribution