Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) normally reside in a protective microenvironment of the bone marrow where they are dormant. These cells divide rarely to meet the production needs of mature hematopoietic cells without compromising the continued retention of a reservoir of HSCs.

We showed that the SCL transcription factor, a member of the basic helix-loop-helix family of proteins, is important for the long-term maintenance of HSC by keeping these cells in a quiescent state, which could protect them against damage caused by the environment.

We aim to define how hematopoietic stem cells integrate various signals to self-renew or to launch a differentiation program. 
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SCL plays also a critical role in blood cell formation, by nucleating a large transcriptional complex on DNA with its partner LMO2. We seeks to determine which proteins associate with SCL to influence its activity and to understand how SCL and LMO2 influence normal hematopoietic cell fate.

To do so, we combine the analysis of cells taken from transgenic or knock-out mouse models with functional proteomics and genomics approaches, as well as using targeted molecular approaches.