David Breault’s research focuses on understanding the hormonal regulation of stem cells and their lineage development. His laboratory is focused on identifying mechanisms underlying tissue homeostasis in self-renewing tissues, such as intestine, adrenal gland, bone.
The Breault lab is investigating telomerase expression as a biomarker for self-renewing progenitor/stem cells. Their efforts have led to the generation of mTert-reporter mice and the discovery of several populations of slowly-cycling tissue stem cells, including an elusive intestinal stem cell. Ongoing efforts are aimed at characterizing stem cell responses to physiological and pathological stress and age with the ultimate goal to improve therapeutic treatment options for a wide range of conditions.