Molecular and Cellular Biology of Platelet Formation Implications in Health and Disease

P.D. Dr. Harald Schulze, studied biochemistry at the University of Hannover and at the Hannover Medical Faculty. As PostDoctoral Assistant at the Dana-Farber Cancer Insitute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, he performed research on megakaryocytes and platelet biogenesis. Since 2005 Harald Schulze is Group leader and Head of the Laboratory for Pediatric Molecular Biology, Charité in Berlin. His group studies the basic mechanisms of platelet production from megakaryocytes. Another focus of the laboratory lies in the analysis of the rare congenital disorder, the TAR syndrome, which is based on a defective mechanism in hematopoiesis.

Dr. Joseph E. Italiano Jr. received his PhD from Florida State University and trained as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Division of Hematology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 1998-2000. He is currently Associate Professor of Medicine with appointments in the Division of Hematology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Vascular Biology Programat Children’s Hospital Boston, and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on how megakaryocytes produce platelets and how platelets regulate new blood vessel growth.