I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine. My research focuses on the biology of aging in stem cells and stem cell niches. Niches are the highly specialized but poorly understood microenvironments that regulate stem cell activity. Using a reductionist approach, I have pioneered techniques to identify and isolate stem/progenitor cells of individual tissue types, including bone, cartilage, and blood vessels.  These basic components can also be combined together to reconstitute a functional bone marrow niche that can support hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We recently identified a mouse skeletal stem cell (mSSC) that has the ability to make bone, cartilage, and HSC niches, in vitro and in vivo and are also close to reporting on the isolation of the human skeletal stem cell (hSSC). I now lead a small group of graduate students and medical fellows working to understand how SSC-HSC interactions in the bone marrow niche changes with age. One aspect that we are particularly interested in is the role of SSC aging in HSC aging. Specifically, we are now investigating if aged SSC generates an aged niche that encourages selection of aged HSC, possibly leading to enhanced osteoclast production that could contribute to osteoporosis in aged bones. We also found that this age-related skewing can be partially reversed by parabiosing aged mice to young mice (manuscript in preparation). To try and reverse aged phenotypes in other tissues, our group is also developing gene-editing approaches to modifying varieties of hematopoietic cells that circulate and home to distinct tissue types, for instance osteoclasts and microglia, to deliver niche factors that stimulate rejuvenation of aged tissues. With these studies as a foundation, we are starting to develop new platforms for understanding how aging evolved in mammals, and also novel therapeutic paradigms to reverse the physiological effects of aging and cure age-related diseases including cancer. I have achieved significant success training and mentoring high school students (3), college students (3), technicians (2), medical students (3), postdoctoral fellows (2) and surgery residents taking time off to work in the laboratory (7). I meet with my students regularly to discuss their projects, trouble- shoot any problems, and advise them on their career. My students have served as first-authors or co-authors in a number of publications featured in high impact journals including Nature, PNAS, Science, and Cell. My students have all worked productively in different projects related to the skeletal stem cell niche and stem cell aging. We have submitted or are currently preparing manuscripts for five of these projects, where I serve as the co-senior and corresponding author. Under my mentorship, my students have received funding from prestigious organizations including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford TRAM grant, Plastic Surgery Foundation Grant, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, American College of Surgeons, Stanford Tissue Engineering Centre, and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In addition, my students have been invited to speak at the Prostate Cancer Foundation, American Society of Clinical Investigation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Meeting, and Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons Meeting (IAPS, 2014), ISSCR (2015, 2018). Finally, they have been recognized for their accomplishments including the Freyer Medal 2015, (most prestigious medal for all of basic science research in surgery in Ireland), Gerry Edwards Memorial Gold Medal (IAPS), and President’s Prize (IAPS, 2014). After leaving the lab, many of my students have been accepted to excellent training programs and/or have begun their own medical and scientific careers at prestigious institutions worldwide.