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JCCC Member Directory

Gay M. Crooks, M.B., B.S.
Gay M. Crooks, M.B., B.S.

Specialty:

Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation

General Information:

Gender:
Female
Language(s):
English

Affiliation(s):

Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Member, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research
Associate Director, JCCC Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program Area

Hospital Affiliation(s):

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

Education:

Fellowship:
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, 1989 - 1993
Pediatrics, Fellow of Royal Australasian College of Physicians,1991
Residency:
Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, 1983 - 1984
Medical Degree:
M.B.,B.S. University of Western Australia, 1982

Certification(s):

Medical Board Certification(s):
Fellow of Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), 1991

Contact Information:

Phone:
(310) 206-0205
Email:
gcrooks@mednet.ucla.edu
Website:
http://www.pathology.ucla.edu

Practice Information:

Clinical Interest(s):
Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation
Primary Immune Deficiencies

Scientific Interest(s):

Dr. Gay Crooks’ research program was founded on the question of how to identify and functionally define human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. This central theme has reached over time into three related areas: 1) the characterization and manipulation of human hematopoietic stem cells and lymphoid progenitors in cord blood, bone marrow and thymus; 2) mechanisms of engraftment and thymopoiesis after bone marrow transplantation; and 3) hematopoiesis from human embryonic stem cells. Specific areas of investigation include stem and lymphoid progenitor expansion using regulated Mpl receptor dimerization, VEGF-mediated angiogenesis in the neonatal thymus and lymphoid commitment during hESC differentiation.

Selected Cancer-Related Publications:

Evseenko D, Zhu Y, Schenke-Layland K, Kuo J, Latour B, Ge S, Scholes J, Dravid G, Li X, MacLellan WR, Crooks GM. Mapping the first stages of mesoderm commitment during differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 3;107(31):13742-7. Epub 2010 Jul 19.

Abdel-Azim H, Zhu Y, Hollis R, Wang X, Ge S, Hao QL, Smbatyan G, Kohn DB, Rosol M, Crooks GM. Expansion of multipotent and lymphoid-committed human progenitors through intracellular dimerization of Mpl. Blood. 2008 Apr 15;111(8):4064-74. Epub 2008 Jan 3.

Cuddihy AR, Ge S, Zhu J, Jang J, Chidgey A, Thurston G, Boyd R, Crooks GM. VEGF-mediated cross-talk within the neonatal murine thymus. Blood. 2009 Mar 19;113(12):2723-31. Epub 2008 Dec 16.

Payne KJ, Crooks GM. Immune-cell lineage commitment: translation from mice to humans. Immunity. 2007 Jun;26(6):674-7.

Hao QL, George AA, Zhu J, Barsky L, Zielinska E, Wang X, Price M, Ge S, Crooks GM. Human intrathymic lineage commitment is marked by differential CD7 expression: identification of CD7- lympho-myeloid thymic progenitors. Blood. 2008 Feb 1;111(3):1318-26. Epub 2007 Oct 24.

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