
Hanna Mikkola, M.D., Ph.D.
Bio
Hanna Mikkola, M.D., Ph.D., studies hematopoietic, or blood stem cells, which can self-renew and create all blood and immune cell types through a process called differentiation. Mikkola is identifying how proteins and other cellular cues affect blood stem cells during embryonic development and differentiation. Her goal is to enhance the understanding of these processes in order to efficiently and effectively generate blood stem cells in the lab. A readily available supply of these cells would greatly improve transplantation treatments for blood diseases such as leukemia and aplastic anemia.
Blood stem cells are already commonly used to treat people with diseases of the blood or immune system, in the form of donor bone marrow transplants. However, this treatment option is limited by the challenge of finding a compatible donor, which is not always possible, and by the risk that the patient’s immune system will reject the foreign cells. Mikkola’s research could pave the way for the production of healthy blood stem cells in the lab using patient-specific blood stem cells, which would allow patients to be their own bone marrow donors.
Mikkola’s lab uses genetically modified mouse models as well as mouse and human pluripotent stem cells to study blood stem cell development and differentiation. Her lab has discovered a unique protein, GPI-80, that helps identify the rare blood stem cells during human development and is integral to their self-renewal. Her team has also pinpointed the function of a cluster of specialized genes, HOXA genes, that play a critical role in creating and preserving blood stem cells and identified the process by which those genes are activated. Both of these advances marked key steps forward in the quest to create patient-specific blood stem cells.
Another major focus in Mikkola’s lab is determining what makes human blood stem cells capable of self-renewing without losing their differentiation potential. Identifying what gives blood stem cells the ability to keep their “stemness” will also bring much needed insight into the development of leukemia, which is a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissue. This insight should provide a valuable foundation upon which new and better treatments for leukemia can be developed.
Mikkola earned doctorate and medical degrees from the University of Helsinki in Finland. She completed post-doctoral training at Lund University in Sweden and Harvard Medical School.
Publications
- Mapping human haematopoietic stem cells from haemogenic endothelium to birthPublished in Nature on Wednesday, April 13, 2022
- Genetic Regulation of Fibroblast Activation and Proliferation in Cardiac FibrosisPublished in Circulation on Tuesday, July 24, 2018
- Analysis of cardiomyocyte clonal expansion during mouse heart development and injuryPublished in Nature Communications on Wednesday, February 21, 2018
- Medial HOXA genes demarcate haematopoietic stem cell fate during human developmentPublished in Nature Cell Biology on Monday, May 16, 2016
- GPI-80 Defines Self-Renewal Ability in Hematopoietic Stem Cells during Human DevelopmentPublished in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, January 8, 2015
- c-Met-dependent multipotent labyrinth trophoblast progenitors establish placental exchange interfacPublished in Developmental Cell on Monday, November 25, 2013
- Haemogenic endocardium contributes to transient definitive haematopoiesisPublished in Nature Communications on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
- Expansion on Stromal Cells Preserves the Undifferentiated State of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells Despite Compromised Reconstitution AbilityPublished in PLOS One on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
- Characterization and Therapeutic Potential of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiovascular Progenitor CellsPublished in PLOS One on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
- Lymphoid priming in human bone marrow begins before expression of CD10 with upregulation of L-selectinPublished in Nature Immunology on Sunday, September 2, 2012
- Dynamic Distribution of Linker Histone H1.5 in Cellular DifferentiationPublished in PLOS Genetics on Thursday, August 30, 2012
- Scl Represses Cardiomyogenesis in Prospective Hemogenic Endothelium and EndocardiumPublished in Cell on Thursday, August 2, 2012
- Trophoblasts Regulate the Placental Hematopoietic Niche through PDGF-B SignalingPublished in Developmental Cell on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
- The first trimester human placenta is a site for terminal maturation of primitive erythroid cellsPublished in Blood on Thursday, October 28, 2010
- UCP2 modulates cell proliferation through the MAPK/ERK pathway during erythropoiesis and has no effect on heme biosynthesisPublished in Journal of Biological Chemistry on Thursday, August 7, 2008
- Reprogrammed Mouse Fibroblasts Differentiate into Cells of the Cardiovascular and Hematopoietic LineagesPublished in Stem Cells on Thursday, May 1, 2008
- The Emergence of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Is Initiated in the Placental Vasculature in the Absence of CirculationPublished in Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, March 6, 2008
- The hematopoietic stem cell and its niche: a comparative viewPublished in Genes & Development on Saturday, December 1, 2007
- Collagen IV Induces Trophoectoderm Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem CellsPublished in Stem Cells on Thursday, March 15, 2007
- Transcriptional Activators, Repressors, and Epigenetic Modifiers Controlling Hematopoietic Stem Cell DevelopmentPublished in Pediatric Research on Saturday, April 1, 2006
Honors & Affiliations
Honors
- McCulloch and Till Award, International Society for Experimental Hematology, 2013
Affiliations
- President, International Society for Hematology
- International Society for Stem Cell Research
- American Society for Hematology
Funding
Mikkola’s research is funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and a Regenerative Medicine Theme Award from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.