Sandra Scharaw Group

The ability of tissues in our body to renew themselves significantly declines with age, imposing the risk for inflammation and cancer. Adult stem cells continuously renew the tissue cells by signalling with their neighbouring niche cells and by relying on their secretory endomembrane system to transport these signals. In the Scharaw lab, we study endomembrane organelle organisation in multicellular stem cell systems, aiming to understand how organelle organisation in stem cells drives tissue renewal and changes with age.

To address these fundamental questions, we use the small intestine as a model, which is marked by unprecedented stem cell-mediated tissue renewal rates, which decline as we age. 3D intestinal organoid cultures allow us to do cell biology in multicellular systems and to apply cross-scale approaches. Specifically, we use ultra-structure volume EM imaging, live-cell transport assays in organoids and mouse genetics to address:

• Molecular scale:  How is the Golgi splitting of stem cells regulated?
• Organelle scale: How are endomembrane organelles arranged in stem cells and how does the arrangement regulate the spatio-temporal membrane trafficking with the surrounding niche environment?
• Tissue scale: How do the endomembrane organelle arrangements control stem cell-driven tissue renewal, what are the changes with age and how can we target the age-related dysfunctions?

For further information visit our lab-homepage at https://scharawlab.org