Dr. Morris is isolating the target cells in skin carcinogenesis with the goal of understanding the regulation of adult stem cell number and proliferative potential in normal and abnormal epidermis. Her laboratory has recently developed a transgenic mouse model for visualizing the progeny of hair follicle stem cells as they develop into skin tumors. She is currently determining whether the hair follicle progeny become tumor stem cells. Other studies in the Morris laboratory are focused on the role of bone marrow derived stem cells in the pathogenesis of skin cancer, and development of culture systems for human hair follicle stem cells.
Kangsamaksin T, Park HJ, Trempus CS, Morris RJ. A perspective on murine keratinocyte stem cells as targets of chemically induced skin cancer. Mol Carcinog. 2007 Aug;46(8):579-84. Review.
Trempus CS, Morris RJ, Ehinger M, Elmore A, Bortner CD, Ito M, Cotsarelis G, Nijhof JG, Peckham J, Flagler N, Kissling G, Humble MM, King LC, Adams LD, Desai D, Amin S, Tennant RW. CD34 expression by hair follicle stem cells is required for skin tumor development in mice.
Cancer Res. 2007 May 1;67(9):4173-81.
Ito M, Liu Y, Yang Z, Nguyen J, Liang F, Morris RJ, Cotsarelis G. Stem cells in the hair follicle bulge contribute to wound repair but not to homeostasis of the epidermis. Nat Med. 2005 Dec;11(12):1351-4. Epub 2005 Nov 20.