[Nov.4] D5 Seminar - Dr. Louise Purton (St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Australia)

October 6 2026

The "D5 Medical & Life Science Seminar" course will be offered by International Research Center for Medical Sciences (IRCMS). It will run from May 2026 to March 2027, with lectures given by scientists who are affiliated with IRCMS or in collaboration with researchers at IRCMS. The lectures will be given once a month, in English, and by leading scientists in the relevant research field. Students will be taught: 1) how normal physiological functions are maintained in the human body; 2) how these systems become abnormal under certain pathophysiologic conditions; 3) why stem cells are important in animal development and homeostasis; 4) how stem cell-based approaches can help us understand disease mechanisms and find potential cure for diseases related to stem cell malfunction (e.g., cancer, aging).

All Kumamoto University members are welcome to participate.
For students who have registered for the course, please check your attendance in Moodle.

Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Format: Online (Zoom)
Time: 16:00-17:00 (JST)
Speaker: Dr. Louise Purton (St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Australia)
Title: Cancer therapies permanently alter hematopoietic stem cell function.

Abstract :
Bone marrow microenvironment cells are important regulators of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). The effects of cancer treatments on distinct bone marrow microenvironment cells and, in turn, HSPC regulation remain understudied and have important implications for patients being treated by a range of cancer therapies.

Here we investigated the effects of a single dose of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or a bone marrow transplant (BMT) compared to saline-treated controls. We specifically focused on these two cancer treatments because they are gold standard procedures that are used to assess HSPC function by numerous investigators worldwide.

Cohorts of mice were: 1) treated with a single dose of 5-FU; 2) were lethally irradiated and transplanted with 5 million whole bone marrow cells (BMT) or 3) were injected with saline (controls). Hematopoiesis and bone marrow microenvironment cell content were thoroughly investigated at numerous time points post-therapy to monitor early recovery in addition to identifying the permanent changes occurring in hematopoiesis in response to the cancer therapies. We used different reporter mice, spatial localization using multiplexing imaging studies and scRNA-seq studies to uncover common and distinct changes occurring in response to 5-FU or a BMT, which will be presented in this seminar.

Major papers:

1. Quach JM, Askymr M, Jovic T, Baker EK, Walsh NC, Harrison SJ, Neeson P, Ritchie D, Ebeling PR, Purton LE. Myelosuppressive therapies significantly increase pro-inflammatory cytokines and directly cause bone loss. JBMR 2015, 30:886-897.
2. Green AC*, Tjin G*, Lee SC, Chalk AM, Straszkowski L, Kwang D, Baker EK, Quach JM, Kimura T, Wu JY, Purton LE. The characterization of distinct populations of murine skeletal cells that have different roles in B lymphopoiesis. Blood 2021 138:304-317.
3. Purton LE. Adult murine hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors: an update on their identities, functions and assays. Exp Hematol 2022 116:1-14.

Flyer (click to enlarge)