April Pyle, PhD

Dr. April Pyle's laboratory is primarily interested in dissecting cell fate decisions required to maintain stable, pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and how this information may be applicable to embryonic development and cellular specification. How hESCs make decisions to survive, self-renew or differentiate is not currently well understood. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with cell fate decisions and what happens when these decisions go awry, leading to cellular transformation. It is becoming increasingly evident that genes known to perform critical roles during early embryogenesis, particularly during stem cell renewal, pluripotency and survival are also expressed during the development of cancer. Pyle's lab will use hESCs as a model system to examine not only stem cell biology and differentiation, but also to improve our understanding of cancer progression and human development.

Alva JA, Lee GE, Escobar EE, Pyle AD. Phosphatase and tensin homolog regulates the pluripotent state and lineage fate choice in human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells. 2011 Dec;29(12):1952-62.

Chin MH, Mason MJ, Xie W, Volinia S, Singer M, Peterson C, Ambartsumyan G, Aimiuwu O, Richter L, Zhang J, Khvorostov I, Ott V, Grunstein M, Lavon N, Benvenisty N, Croce CM, Clark AT, Baxter T, Pyle AD, Teitell MA, Pelegrini M, Plath K, Lowry WE. Induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells are distinguished by gene expression signatures. Cell Stem Cell. 2009 Jul 2;5(1):111-23.

Conway AE, Lindgren A, Galic Z, Pyle AD, Wu H, Zack JA, Pelligrini M, Teitell MA, Clark AT. A self-renewal program controls the expansion of genetically unstable cancer stem cells in pluripotent stem cell-derived tumors. Stem Cells. 2009 Jan;27(1):18-28.

Damoiseaux R, Sherman SP, Alva JA, Peterson C, Pyle AD. Integrated chemical genomics reveals modifiers of survival in human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells. 2009 Mar;27(3):533-42.

Conway AE, Lindgren A, Galic Z, Pyle AD, Wu H, Zack JA, Pelligrini M, Teitell MA, Clark A. A Pluripotency and Self-Renewal Program Controls the Expansion of Genetically Unstable Cancer Stem Cells in Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Tumors. Stem Cells. 2009 Jan;27(1):18-28. doi: 10.1634/stemcells.2008-0529.