Kolonin Lab
Centre for Stem Cell Research, 1825 Pressler Street
Houston, TX 77030

Mission:

The group's research is aimed at understanding why cancer progression is advanced in obese patients. We are testing whether adult progenitor cells from white fat tissue (adipose stem cells) promote tumor growth.

Director:

Mikhail Kolonin, PhD

Background of Director:

Dr. Mikhail G. Kolonin, received a M.S. degree from Novosibirsk State University (Russia), focusing on mammalian genome mapping. He received his Ph.D. at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) having investigated the cell cycle biology through novel applications of the yeast two-hybrid system. As a post-doctoral fellow, and later a junior faculty, in the laboratory headed by Renata Pasqualini and Wadih Arap at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Kolonin has contributed to the project outlining the map of vasculature with phage-displayed combinatorial peptide libraries.

Major accomplishments:

1. Pioneered the use of peptides to perform pre-programmed functions in live animals.

2. Contributed to the construction of the prototype molecular map of the human vascular cell surface proteome.

3. Designed a recently licensed experimental treatment that enables targeted depletion of fat tissue.

Current Projects:

1. Role of adipose stem cells in cancer.

2. Isolation of mesenchymal/adipose stem cell markers.

3. Charcterization of molecular mechanisms controlling mesenchymal/adipose stem cell mobilization.

Clinical Trials:

Blood and adipose tissue donors are welcome to enroll into a clinical study measuring mesenchymal/adipose stem cell mobilization in disease.