Gay Crooks, M.D.

Email Address:
gcrooks@mednet.ucla.edu

Mailing Address:
OHRC 545-F

UNITED STATES

Work Phone Number:
310-206-0205

Department / Division Affiliations:

Professor in the Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Member of the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Bio:

Gay M. Crooks is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics in the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA and a member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA. Dr 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. Dr Crooks graduated from medical school at the University of Western Australia and completed her FRACP (pediatrics) at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children prior to her fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). In 1993, she joined the faculty of the University of Southern California and established her laboratory and clinical programs in the Division of Research Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at CHLA. In 2009 her research program moved to UCLA, where in addition to running her research program, Dr. Crooks is a pediatric bone marrow transplant physician in the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Mattel’s Children’s Hospital, UCLA.

Publications:

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; 113(12): 2723-2731.

Abdel-Azim H, Zhu Y, Hollis R, Wang X, Ge S, Hao QL, Smbatyan G, Kohn DB, Rosol M, and Crooks GM Expansion of multipotent and lymphoid-committed human progenitors through intracellular dimerization of Mpl. Blood 2008; 111(8): 4064-4074.

Hao QL, George AA, Zhu Y, Barsky LW, Zielinska E, Wang X, Price M, Ge Shundi, Crooks GM Human intrathymic lineage commitment is marked by differential expression; Identification of CD7neg lympho-myeloid thymic progenitors. Blood 2008; 111(3): 1318-1326.

Evseenko D, Schenke-Layland K, Dravid G, Zhu Y, Hao QL, Scholes J, Wan XC, MacLellan R, Crooks GM Identification of the critical extracellular matrix proteins that promote human embryonic stem cell assembly. Stem Cells and Development 2008; 18(6): 919-928.

Wang X, Rosol M, Ge S, Petersen D, McNamara G, Pollack H, Kohn DB, Nelson MD, Crooks GM Dynamite tracking of human hematopoietic stem cell engraftment using in vivo bioluminescence imaging. Blood 2003; 102(10): 3478-3482.

Hao QL, Zhu J, Price MA, Payne KJ, Barsky LW, Crooks GM Identification of a novel, human multi-lymphoid progenitor in cord blood. Blood 2001; 97(12): 3683-3690.

Case SS, Price MA, Jordan CT, Yu XJ, Wang L, Bauer G, Haas DL, Xu D, Stripecke R., Naldini L, Kohn DB, and Crooks GM Stable transduction of quiescent CD34+CD38-human hematopoietic cells by HIV-1 based lentiviral vectors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 1999; 96(6): 2988-2993.

Hao QL, Smogorzewska EM, Barsky LW, Crooks GM In Vitro Identification of Single CD34+CD38 Cells With Both Lymphoid and Myeloid Potential. Blood 1998; 91(11): 4145-4151.

Hao QL, Thiemann FT, Petersen D, Smogorzewska EM, Crooks GM Extended long term culture reveals a highly quiescent and primitive human hematopoietc progenitor population. Blood 1996; 88(9): 3306-3313.

Shah AJ, Smogorzewska EM, Hannum C, Crooks GM Flt3 Ligand Induces Proliferation of Quiescent Human Bone Marrow CE34-CD38-Cells and Maintains Progenitor Cells In Vitro. Blood 1996; 87(9): 3563-3570.