Stem cells and ageing in the blood: an interview with Margaret (Peggy) Goodell

Margaret (Peggy) Goodell has significantly advanced our understanding of haematopoietic stem cells - the stem cells that develop into different types of specialised blood cells. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, USA. Peggy completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK, before returning to the USA to carry out postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, in Cambridge, MA, where she pioneered a novel technique for isolating haematopoietic stem cells, known as the 'side population' method. She then joined Baylor College of Medicine in 1997 to start her own lab and has stayed there since. Peggy's research focuses on regulatory mechanisms in haematopoietic stem cells and how these go awry during ageing and disease. The significance of her research has been recognised by multiple prestigious awards, including the Tobias Award from the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology. In this 'A Model for Life' interview, we discuss Peggy's impressive career path, the parallels between ageing and cancer in the blood, and the lessons we can learn from stem cell biology to understand and mitigate disease.