Lab Spotlight: Espin Lab

Espin Lab

Each month, Simply Blood spotlights a lab contributing to the fields of hematology, immunology, stem cell research, cell and gene therapies, and more. Get to know groups doing cutting edge research from around the world! This month, we are featuring the Espin Lab which is based out of Iowa State University.

How long have you had your lab?

I started my lab in August 2019, so 5.5 years.

How many members make up your lab?
In the last year, the lab has reduced its size due to four graduations, one retirement, and one postdoc who transitioned to a faculty position, so we are in the process of hiring. Currently, in my lab there are two PhD students, a lab manager, and four undergraduate researchers. However, our lab operates together with the lab of Dr. Clyde Campbell, husband and Assistant Professor at ISU, which adds two more PhD students to the group. Both of our labs work as a team, sharing research resources and mentorship. It is therefore hard to separate the members of each lab and we consider them also as part of our group.

What is the major research theme of your lab?
Our major focus is to understand how hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) are made, which only happens once in our lifetime, when we are embryos. Particularly we have a strong background on how the classical signals that drive inflammation also operate during development in the absence of infection to generate the capstone of the hematopoietic system. As developmental biologists, we aim to reveal the secrets of nature so that these can be mimicked in vitro to generate iPSC derived human HSPCs and their blood derivatives for disease modeling and future therapeutic interventions.

What is the most exciting project in your lab right now?
It is hard to pick one, since I think all of the current projects are very exciting. I could highlight, for example, that we are close to finally isolate and understand the biology of the cell from which hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are originated from. We are also working on the identification of the molecular mechanisms that establish functional hematopoietic stem cell heterogeneity. Our zebrafish in vivo model allows us to “watch” what nature does to develop HSPCs, and then, in collaboration with Dr. Giulia Pavani and Dr. Paul Gadue at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, we translate these findings to optimize the production of iPSC-derived human HSPCs.

What's your best approach to mentoring students in the lab?
At ISU, the main research force are PhD students, and has been a wonderful and enriching experience to work with them. Some of my approaches are: to promote a relaxed environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas; being highly accessible (the students have my personal phone number to reach me when they need to); open door policy for informal meetings; weekly formal meetings; promotion of internal/external collaborations. Also, I like asking my mentees for their short- long-term goals to help them get there.

What's the biggest accomplishment your lab has had recently?
Personally, this has been seeing my “first wave” of mentees achieving their goals. I never imagined as a postdoc that this would be one of the most rewarding parts of the PI job. I love helping our mentees. At the scientific level, we have published two recent articles in Nature Communications that I think they might move the needle further in our field.

What is the key to running a successful lab?
There is no magic formula to run a successful lab. We are all different and need to find what works for each of us. However, I can share some key aspects that helped me start our research program: 1) Having an experienced person that can help train students and run experiments. That helped me focus on grants and papers. Dr. Campbell has been doing a lot of the “heavy lifting” work in the lab!. 2) Ensure you provide your mentees with the appropriated environment to succeed. This includes: opportunities to learn, resources, and a healthy and balanced work environment. 3) When the goal of a PI is to help their mentees, everyone feels supported, is happier, and everyone (including the PI) succeed.

What facilities or equipment does your lab absolutely depend on?
We heavily rely on our FACS machine, confocal microscope, injectors, as well as the state-of-the-art zebrafish facility that was built from Carver funds and currently hosts more than 15,000 animals. We have been extremely lucky to join ISU, a land-grand university that is extremely supportive of everyone. Having our own equipment operated by our groups has been fundamental to provide exceptional training opportunities for our students and key for success.

What has been your greatest challenge in managing your lab?
I have been extremely lucky to run the lab together with Dr. Campbell. While I focused more in writing grants and papers, he was fundamental to train everyone in the lab and move projects forward. Thanks to our complementary skills, everything went pretty smoothly and fast. It would have been definitely much more challenging to do it all by myself. Besides, I started my lab just 6 months before the worldwide pandemic hit, so once we had some hires, we were sent home. We are a wet lab, so we did not have much material to progress while the shut-down.

What advice do you have for new investigators just opening their lab?
Having short and long-term goals for the lab can be highly beneficial. For example, focusing in one senior publication and one grant submission a year will help you focus and not get distracted by the many sidetracks we often find in the way. Over the years, this would lead to a steady and productive research track record.

What was the most exciting part about starting your new lab?
As a postdoc, I was limited by the work that I could accomplish as a single person, and often only one project could be moved forward. As a PI, you can train and support several mentees and see much quicker progress in your research goals.

Does your lab attend the ISEH annual meeting?
Absolutely! ISEH is one of our favorite meetings, so we try to attend each year.

What is the most beneficial aspect of ISEH membership for your lab?
There are many great aspects about being part of ISEH. For example, informative posts, educative seminars, job opportunities, etc. The ISEH hematology community is truly outstanding!. Attending ISEH feels like a yearly reunion with your best friends, and the science is of the highest quality. We also love to learn about other labs in the field, so it is really fun to read the “Lab Spotlight”, and now we have the privilege to be one of them!. 

How do members of your lab celebrate accomplishments?
We typically will go out for lunch to a nice restaurant.

Does your lab have any fun traditions?
We love doing our traditional white elephant exchange gift during the Christmas Season. There are many funny gifts and a lot of gift stealing! We have so much fun!. We also like celebrating our team members birthdays with some food goodies.

Raquel Espin Palazon

Assistant Professor, Iowa State University

Bluesky: @EspinLab.bsky.social

Blog post contributed by Katherine MacNamara, PhD, of the ISEH Publications Committee. 

Please note that the statements made by Simply Blood authors are their own views and not necessarily the views of ISEH. ISEH disclaims any or all liability arising from any author's statements or materials.