Quiescence and activation of epidermal stem cells
An enormous effort has recently been devoted to understanding the mechanisms that regulate stem cell self-renewal and differentiation in the adult epidermis, but the sum of data accumulated on the role of various signaling pathways does not adequately explain the behavior of these adult stem cells. Shortly after the generation of the hair follicle, a group of epidermal stem cells becomes distinguishable and is localized to the bulge region. These adult stem cells were first identified on the basis of their slow-cycling nature and their ability to give rise to all the cells of the epidermis upon transplantation.

Identifying of some of the signaling pathways that regulate stem cells in order to maintain epidermal homeostasis has still left a gaping hole in our understanding of the mechanisms behind self-renewal and differentiation in this system because we do not know how the activity of these pathways intersects inside the stem cells. As a continuation of our interest in the methods by which cells receive and interpret the variety of signals into a coherent response, we are designing strategies to study the activity of various signaling pathways in epidermal stem cell self-renewal and differentiation.