Outstanding Early Career Scholar, CU Department of Medicine
(2019)
The goal of the Outstanding Early Career Scholar Program is to allow successful early career faculty to develop new lines of investigation to expand the scope of their research enterprise.
Endowed Chair in Hematology Research, Cleo Meador/George Ryland Scott
(2018)
In academic medicine, endowed chairs are honors created by philanthropic funds to provide stable, long-term positions for highly accomplished scientists. This position recognizes Dr. Pietras' excellence in pushing forward the field of hematologic oncology and cancer clinical trials.
Webb-Waring Early Career Investigator Award, Boettcher Foundation
(2017)
The Webb-Waring Early Career Investigator Award is designed to help promising biomedical researchers establish their research and become competitive for major awards from federal and private sources. Awardees are granted the title of Boettcher Investigator and are awarded grands of $235,000 for up to three years of research.
Research Interests
The mammalian blood system is a complex tissue that regulates multiple physiological processes including oxygen and nutrient delivery, wound clotting, and defense against infection and other physiological insults via the specialized cells of the immune system. All lineages of blood cells, including those of the immune system, are produced by rare hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) lodged in the bone marrow, which first generate the blood system during embryonic development and subsequently provide for lifelong blood homeostasis.
While much is known about the processes that shape the blood system during homeostasis, less is understood about how this complex tissue responds dynamically to stress. Dr. Pietras’ R01-funded research program focuses on understanding how inflammation, the physiological process initiated by these insults, shapes the blood system by impacting the fate decisions made by HSCs. He is also interested in the molecular and functional consequences, both for HSCs and the blood system at large, of long-term exposure to pro-inflammatory factors in the context of chronic inflammatory diseases and hematological malignancy. The goal of his research is to understand how these factors may reprogram HSCs to make blood in a deregulated fashion that could impact inflammatory diseases and leukemia development, and to identify potential therapeutic targets that can restore normal HSC function in human patients.
Publications
Mitchell CA, Verovskaya EV, Calero-Nieto FJ, Olson OC, Swann JW, Wang X, Hérault A, Dellorusso PV, Zhang SY, Svendsen AF, Pietras EM, Bakker ST, Ho TT, Göttgens B, Passegué E. Stromal niche inflammation mediated by IL-1 signalling is a targetable driver of haematopoietic ageing. Nat Cell Biol. 2023 Jan;25(1):30-41. PubMed PMID: 36650381
Alkhani A, Korsholm C, Levy CS, Mohamedaly S, Duwaerts CC, Pietras EM, Nijagal A. Neonatal Hepatic Myeloid Progenitors Expand and Propagate Liver Injury in Mice. J Clin Med. 2023 Jan 1;12(1). PubMed PMID: 36615137
Ahmed N, Etzrodt M, Dettinger P, Kull T, Loeffler D, Hoppe PS, Chavez JS, Zhang Y, Camargo Ortega G, Hilsenbeck O, Nakajima H, Pietras EM, Schroeder T. Blood stem cell PU.1 upregulation is a consequence of differentiation without fast autoregulation. J Exp Med. 2022 Jan 3;219(1). PubMed PMID: 34817548
Niño KE, Pietras EM. TNF Receptors Choose HSC Fate in Supporting Dnmt3a-Mutant Clonal Hematopoiesis. Cancer Discov. 2022 Dec 2;12(12):2724-2726. PubMed PMID: 36458433
Sureshchandra S, Chan CN, Robino JJ, Parmelee LK, Nash MJ, Wesolowski SR, Pietras EM, Friedman JE, Takahashi D, Shen W, Jiang X, Hennebold JD, Goldman D, Packwood W, Lindner JR, Roberts CT Jr, Burwitz BJ, Messaoudi I, Varlamov O. Maternal Western-style diet remodels the transcriptional landscape of fetal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in rhesus macaques. Stem Cell Reports. 2022 Dec 13;17(12):2595-2609. PubMed PMID: 36332628
Pietras EM, DeGregori J. Dangerous Liaisons between Tet2 Mutation, Inflammatory Monocytes, and Leukemogenesis. Cancer Discov. 2022 Oct 5;12(10):2234-2236. PubMed PMID: 36196576
Schleicher WE, Pietras EM. Reduced PU.1 Expression Collaborates with Tet2 Loss to Trigger Myeloid Leukemogenesis. Blood Cancer Discov. 2022 Sep 6;3(5):378-381. PubMed PMID: 36065607
Zhou C, Uluisik R, Rowley JW, David C, Jones CL, Scharer CD, Noetzli L, Fisher MH, Kirkpatrick GD, Bark K, Boss JM, Henry CJ, Pietras EM, Di Paola J, Porter CC. Germline ETV6 mutation promotes inflammation and disrupts lymphoid development of early hematopoietic progenitors. Exp Hematol. 2022 Aug-Sep;112-113:24-34. PubMed PMID: 35803545
Florez MA, Tran BT, Wathan TK, DeGregori J, Pietras EM, King KY. Clonal hematopoiesis: Mutation-specific adaptation to environmental change. Cell Stem Cell. 2022 Jun 2;29(6):882-904. PubMed PMID: 35659875
Patel SB, Pietras EM. B cells regulate hematopoietic stem cells via cholinergic signaling. Nat Immunol. 2022 Apr;23(4):476-478. PubMed PMID: 35347284
Chavez JS, Rabe JL, Hernandez G, Mills TS, Niño KE, Davizon-Castillo P, Pietras EM. PU.1 Expression Defines Distinct Functional Activities in the Phenotypic HSC Compartment of a Murine Inflammatory Stress Model. Cells. 2022 Feb 15;11(4). PubMed PMID: 35203330
Ahmed N, Etzrodt M, Dettinger P, Kull T, Loeffler D, Hoppe PS, Chavez JS, Zhang Y, Camargo Ortega G, Hilsenbeck O, Nakajima H, Pietras EM, Schroeder T. Blood stem cell PU.1 upregulation is a consequence of differentiation without fast autoregulation. J Exp Med. 2022 Jan 3;219(1). PubMed PMID: 34817548
Challen GA, Pietras EM, Wallscheid NC, Signer RAJ. Simplified murine multipotent progenitor isolation scheme: Establishing a consensus approach for multipotent progenitor identification. Exp Hematol. 2021 Dec;104:55-63. PubMed PMID: 34648848
Majumdar D, Pietras EM, Pawar SA. Analysis of Radiation-Induced Changes in Cell Cycle and DNA Damage of Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Multi-Color Flow Cytometry. Curr Protoc. 2021 Aug;1(8):e216. PubMed PMID: 34399037
Caiado F, Pietras EM, Manz MG. Inflammation as a regulator of hematopoietic stem cell function in disease, aging, and clonal selection. J Exp Med. 2021 Jul 5;218(7). PubMed PMID: 34129016
Higa KC, Goodspeed A, Chavez JS, De Dominici M, Danis E, Zaberezhnyy V, Rabe JL, Tenen DG, Pietras EM, DeGregori J. Chronic interleukin-1 exposure triggers selection for Cebpa-knockout multipotent hematopoietic progenitors. J Exp Med. 2021 Jun 7;218(6). PubMed PMID: 33914855
Chavez JS, Rabe JL, Loeffler D, Higa KC, Hernandez G, Mills TS, Ahmed N, Gessner RL, Ke Z, Idler BM, Niño KE, Kim H, Myers JR, Stevens BM, Davizon-Castillo P, Jordan CT, Nakajima H, Ashton J, Welner RS, Schroeder T, DeGregori J, Pietras EM. PU.1 enforces quiescence and limits hematopoietic stem cell expansion during inflammatory stress. J Exp Med. 2021 Jun 7;218(6). PubMed PMID: 33857288
Cavalli G, Tengesdal IW, Gresnigt M, Nemkov T, Arts RJW, Domínguez-Andrés J, Molteni R, Stefanoni D, Cantoni E, Cassina L, Giugliano S, Schraa K, Mills TS, Pietras EM, Eisenmensser EZ, Dagna L, Boletta A, D'Alessandro A, Joosten LAB, Netea MG, Dinarello CA. The anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-37 is an inhibitor of trained immunity. Cell Rep. 2021 Apr 6;35(1):108955. PubMed PMID: 33826894
Tengesdal IW, Menon DR, Osborne DG, Neff CP, Powers NE, Gamboni F, Mauro AG, D'Alessandro A, Stefanoni D, Henen MA, Mills TS, De Graaf DM, Azam T, Vogeli B, Palmer BE, Pietras EM, DeGregori J, Tan AC, Joosten LAB, Fujita M, Dinarello CA, Marchetti C. Targeting tumor-derived NLRP3 reduces melanoma progression by limiting MDSCs expansion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Mar 9;118(10). PubMed PMID: 33649199
Pollyea DA, Kim HM, Stevens BM, Lee FF, Harris C, Hedin BR, Knapp JR, O'Connor BP, Jordan CT, Pietras EM, Tan AC, Alper S. MDS-associated SF3B1 mutations enhance proinflammatory gene expression in patient blast cells. J Leukoc Biol. 2021 Jul;110(1):197-205. PubMed PMID: 33155727
Culp-Hill R, D'Alessandro A, Pietras EM. Extinguishing the Embers: Targeting AML Metabolism. Trends Mol Med. 2021 Apr;27(4):332-344. PubMed PMID: 33121874
Kang YA, Pietras EM, Passegué E. Deregulated Notch and Wnt signaling activates early-stage myeloid regeneration pathways in leukemia. J Exp Med. 2020 Mar 2;217(3). PubMed PMID: 31886826
Pollyea DA, Kim HM, Stevens BM, Lee FF, Harris C, Hedin BR, Knapp JR, O'Connor BP, Jordan CT, Pietras EM, Tan AC, Alper S. MDS-associated SF3B1 mutations enhance proinflammatory gene expression in patient blast cells. J Leukoc Biol. 2020 Nov 6. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33155727
Culp-Hill R, D'Alessandro A, Pietras EM. Extinguishing the Embers: Targeting AML Metabolism. Trends Mol Med. 2020 Oct 26. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33121874
Fisher MH, Kirkpatrick GD, Stevens B, Jones C, Callaghan M, Rajpurkar M, Fulbright J, Cooper MA, Rowley J, Porter CC, Gutierrez-Hartmann A, Jones K, Jordan C, Pietras EM, Di Paola J. ETV6 germline mutations cause HDAC3/NCOR2 mislocalization and upregulation of interferon response genes. JCI Insight. 2020 Sep 17;5(18). PubMed PMID: 32841218
Wang Y, Sano S, Yura Y, Ke Z, Sano M, Oshima K, Ogawa H, Horitani K, Min KD, Miura-Yura E, Kour A, Evans MA, Zuriaga MA, Hirschi KK, Fuster JJ, Pietras EM, Walsh K. Tet2-mediated clonal hematopoiesis in nonconditioned mice accelerates age-associated cardiac dysfunction. JCI Insight. 2020 Mar 26;5(6). PubMed PMID: 32154790
Kang YA, Pietras EM, Passegué E. Deregulated Notch and Wnt signaling activates early-stage myeloid regeneration pathways in leukemia. J Exp Med. 2020 Mar 2;217(3). PubMed PMID: 31886826
Rabe JL, Hernandez G, Chavez JS, Mills TS, Nerlov C, Pietras EM. CD34 and EPCR coordinately enrich functional murine hematopoietic stem cells under normal and inflammatory conditions. Exp Hematol. 2020 Jan;81:1-15.e6. PubMed PMID: 31863798
Rabe JL, Hernandez G, Chavez JS, Mills TS, Nerlov C, Pietras EM. CD34 and EPCR coordinately enrich functional murine hematopoietic stem cells under normal and inflammatory conditions. Exp Hematol. 2019 Dec 18. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31863798
Davizon-Castillo P, McMahon B, Aguila S, Bark D, Ashworth K, Allawzi A, Campbell RA, Montenont E, Nemkov T, D'Alessandro A, Clendenen N, Shih L, Sanders NA, Higa K, Cox A, Padilla-Romo Z, Hernandez G, Wartchow E, Trahan GD, Nozik-Grayck E, Jones K, Pietras EM, DeGregori J, Rondina MT, Di Paola J. TNF-a-driven inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction define the platelet hyperreactivity of aging. Blood. 2019 Aug 29;134(9):727-740. PubMed PMID: 31311815
Hemmati S, Sinclair T, Tong M, Bartholdy B, Okabe RO, Ames K, Ostrodka L, Haque T, Kaur I, Mills TS, Agarwal A, Pietras EM, Zhao JJ, Roberts TM, Gritsman K. PI3 kinase alpha and delta promote hematopoietic stem cell activation. JCI Insight. 2019 May 23;5. PubMed PMID: 31120863
Hernandez G, Mills TS, Rabe JL, Chavez JS, Kuldanek S, Kirkpatrick G, Noetzli L, Jubair WK, Zanche M, Meyers JR, Stevens BM, Fleenor CJ, Adane B, Dinarello CA, Ashton J, Jordan CT, Di Paola J, Hagman JR, Holers VM, Kuhn KA, Pietras EM. Pro-inflammatory cytokine blockade attenuates myeloid expansion in a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis. Haematologica. 2019 May 17. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31101752
Pollyea DA, Harris C, Rabe JL, Hedin BR, De Arras L, Katz S, Wheeler E, Bejar R, Walter MJ, Jordan CT, Pietras EM, Alper S. Myelodysplastic syndrome-associated spliceosome gene mutations enhance innate immune signaling. Haematologica. 2019 Sep;104(9):e388-e392. PubMed PMID: 30846499
Jalbert E, Pietras EM. Analysis of Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cell Proliferation During Inflammation. Methods Mol Biol. 2018;1686:183-200. PubMed PMID: 29030822
Chavez JS, Pietras EM. Hematopoietic Stem Cells Rock Around The Clock: Circadian Fate Control via TNF/ROS Signals. Cell Stem Cell. 2018 Oct 4;23(4):459-460. PubMed PMID: 30290172
Fleenor CJ, Arends T, Lei H, Åhsberg J, Okuyama K, Kuruvilla J, Cristobal S, Rabe JL, Pandey A, Danhorn T, Straign D, Espinosa JM, Warming S, Pietras EM, Sigvardsson M, Hagman JR. Zinc Finger Protein 521 Regulates Early Hematopoiesis through Cell-Extrinsic Mechanisms in the Bone Marrow Microenvironment. Mol Cell Biol. 2018 Sep 1;38(17). PubMed PMID: 29915154
Pietras EM. Ezh2 spares KitL from the cutter. Blood. 2018 May 17;131(20):2180-2181. PubMed PMID: 29773542
Jalbert E, Pietras EM. Analysis of Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cell Proliferation During Inflammation. Methods Mol Biol. 2018;1686:183-200. PubMed PMID: 29030822
Pietras EM. Inflammation: a key regulator of hematopoietic stem cell fate in health and disease. Blood. 2017 Oct 12;130(15):1693-1698. PubMed PMID: 28874349
Pietras EM. The importance of tying up loose (DNA) ends. Blood. 2017 May 4;129(18):2457-2458. PubMed PMID: 28473409
Dudli S, Sing DC, Hu SS, Berven SH, Burch S, Deviren V, Cheng I, Tay BKB, Alamin TF, Ith MAM, Pietras EM, Lotz JC. ISSLS PRIZE IN BASIC SCIENCE 2017: Intervertebral disc/bone marrow cross-talk with Modic changes. Eur Spine J. 2017 May;26(5):1362-1373. PubMed PMID: 28138783
Hérault A, Binnewies M, Leong S, Calero-Nieto FJ, Zhang SY, Kang YA, Wang X, Pietras EM, Chu SH, Barry-Holson K, Armstrong S, Göttgens B, Passegué E. Myeloid progenitor cluster formation drives emergency and leukaemic myelopoiesis. Nature. 2017 Apr 6;544(7648):53-58. PubMed PMID: 28355185