Luanne Peters, Ph.D.

Our research focuses on blood formation, or hematopoiesis, with a major emphasis on the development of red blood cells (erythropoiesis). Defects in the production, structure and/or function of red blood cells, the oxygen-carrying cells of the body, lead to anemia. Anemia affects about 1.6 billion people worldwide, imposing an enormous burden on medical resources. We use the mouse as a model system to elucidate the genetic basis of human inherited anemias, which include defects in iron and heme metabolism and transport, sickle cell disease, bone marrow failure and the anemia of aging. Mice are an excellent model system in which to pursue these studies for many reasons. Blood formation in mice and humans is remarkably similar, and mice get the same types of anemias due to the same underlying genetic causes as humans’. Identifying the genes that go awry to produce anemia is the first step in developing new therapeutics for its prevention and treatment. We study both single-gene (Mendelian) defects and complex, polygenic phenotypes that arise from natural genetic variation in inbred strains and other reference mouse populations. We utilize the most state-of-the- art genetic techniques in both genotype- and phenotype-driven approaches to identify and functionally analyze genes critical to erythropoiesis and red cell structure, function and survival.

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