Staff profile

Regulation of Epithelial Stem Cells

My research focusses on the regulation of epithelial stem cells. The epithelia that line the surface of the skin and our internal organs are constantly turned over. Cells are lost from the surface and replaced by the proliferation of stem cells. These stem cells must be tightly regulated as an overproduction of new cells can lead to cancer, and the majority of cancers are of epithelial origin.

I use the stem cells of the fruit fly intestine to better understand epithelial stem cell regulation. These fly intestinal stem cells behave in similar ways to mammalian epithelial stem cells and are regulated by many of the same, conserved signalling pathways. Combined with the powerful genetic tools available in the fly, this conservation makes them an excellent model.

Current projects include identification and characterization of new signals regulating epithelial stem cells and analysing how crosstalk between known pathways regulates cell fate.

• Ageing
• Cancer
• Cell Biology
• Cell Signalling
• Chromatin
• Development
• Epithelial Stem Cells
• Imaging
• Intestine
• Stem Cells

Chapter in book

• Ferraces-Riegas, P., Galbraith, A. C., & Doupé, D. P. (2022). Epithelial Stem Cells: Making, Shaping and Breaking the Niche. In Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2021_686
• Doupé, D. P., & Perrimon, N. (2016). Toward a Systems Understanding of Signaling Pathway Function. In P. M. Wassarman (Ed.), Essays on Developmental Biology, Part B (221-236). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ctdb.2015.11.005

Journal Article

• Doupé, D., Marshall, O., Dayton, H., Brand, A., & Perrimon, N. (2018). Drosophila intestinal stem and progenitor cells are major sources and regulators of homeostatic niche signals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(48), 12218-12223. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1719169115
• Cliffe, A., Doupé, D. P., Sung, H., Lim, I. K. H., Ong, K. H., Cheng, L., & Yu, W. (2017). Quantitative 3D analysis of complex single border cell behaviors in coordinated collective cell migration. Nature Communications, 8, Article 14905. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14905
• Doupé, D., & Perrimon, N. (2014). Visualizing and Manipulating Temporal Signaling Dynamics with Fluorescence-Based Tools. Science Signaling, 7(319), https://doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.2005077
• Doupé, D. P., & Jones, P. H. (2013). Cycling progenitors maintain epithelia while diverse cell types contribute to repair. BioEssays, 35(5), https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201200166
• Doupé, D., Alcolea, M., Roshan, A., Zhang, G., Klein, A., Simons, B., & Jones, P. (2012). A Single Progenitor Population Switches Behavior to Maintain and Repair Esophageal Epithelium. Science, 337(6098), https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1218835
• Doupé, D. P., & Jones, P. H. (2012). Interfollicular epidermal homeostasis: dicing with differentiation. Experimental Dermatology, 21(4), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0625.2012.01447.x
• Klein, A., Nikolaidou-Neokosmidou, V., Doupé, D., Jones, P., & Simons, B. (2011). Patterning as a signature of human epidermal stem cell regulation. Journal of the Royal Society. Interface, 8(65), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2011.0240
• Doupé, D. P., Klein, A. M., Simons, B. D., & Jones, P. H. (2010). The Ordered Architecture of Murine Ear Epidermis Is Maintained by Progenitor Cells with Random Fate. Developmental Cell, 18(2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2009.12.016
• Klein, A. M., Doupé, D. P., Jones, P. H., & Simons, B. D. (2008). Mechanism of murine epidermal maintenance: Cell division and the voter model. Physical review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 77(3), https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.77.031907
• Klein, A. M., Doupé, D. P., Jones, P. H., & Simons, B. D. (2007). Kinetics of cell division in epidermal maintenance. Physical review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 76(2), https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.76.021910
• Clayton, E., Doupé, D. P., Klein, A. M., Winton, D. J., Simons, B. D., & Jones, P. H. (2007). A single type of progenitor cell maintains normal epidermis. Nature, 446(7132), https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05574