Margaret (“Peggy”) A. Goodell (born March 23, 1965) is an American scientist working in the field of stem cell research. Goodell is Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...
, Director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (STaR) Center, and a member of the
National Academy of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...
. She is best known for her discovery of a novel method to isolate adult
stem cells
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...
.
Goodell has been on the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine since 1997 as a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, and the Departments of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetic, and Immunology. She holds the Vivian L. Smith Chair in Regenerative Medicine, and has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and research.
Goodell is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of th
Keystone Symposia a former President of the
International Society for Experimental Hematology, and has served on the board of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. She has also served as the chair of the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine committee for the
American Society of Hematology
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists. It was founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes th ...
. She is an Associate Editor for ''
Blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...
'' and serves on the editorial boards of ''
Cell Stem Cell
''Cell Stem Cell'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier. The journal was established in 2007 and focuses on stem cell research. Both research articles and reviews are published, at about a 7 to 1 ...
'' and ''
PLOS Biology
''PLOS Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biology. Publication began on October 13, 2003. It is the first journal published by the Public Library of Science. The editor-in-chief is Nonia Pariente.
In ad ...
''.
Education
Goodell received her B.Sc. at
Imperial College of Science and Technology
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
in London, England in 1986 with Honors. She went on to earn her Ph.D. at
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in 1991. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in Richard Mulligan’s lab at the prestigious
Whitehead Institute
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indepen ...
for Biomedical Research at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
and
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
.
At MIT, she developed a novel method for isolating blood-forming stem cells from mouse bone marrow based on a fortuitous observation that stem cells efflux fluorescent lipophilic dyes. This “
side population
A side population (SP) in flow cytometry is a sub-population of cells that is distinct from the main population on the basis of the markers employed. By definition, cells in a side population have distinguishing biological characteristics (for ex ...
(SP)” method has become widely used to isolate stem cells from a variety of species and adult tissues, including from cancer stem cells.
Research
In 1997, Goodell joined the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, and
Immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...
at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. She is a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and a founding member and director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (STaR) Center.
Her current research is focused on the mechanisms that regulate
hematopoietic stem cells
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis. In vertebrates, the very first definitive HSCs arise from the ventral endothelial wall of the embryonic aorta within t ...
(HSC), and how those regulatory mechanisms go awry in hematologic
malignancies
Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse.
Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...
. The Goodell Laboratory, which has about 15 students and post-doctoral fellows, studies the effects of stresses, including infection, toxicity, and age, on the behavior of HSCs. The lab also looks at stem cell growth control, as well as the regulation of self-renewal and activation.
She has recently uncovered how the de novo DNA methyltransferase,
DNMT3A
DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3A is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of methyl groups to specific CpG structures in DNA, a process called DNA methylation. The enzyme is encoded in humans by the DNMT3A gene.
This enzyme is responsible f ...
— one of the most important tumor suppressors in the blood — contributes to stem cell self-renewal and differentiation in aging, inflammation, and cancer. These interests led her to develop new tools to examine the epigenetic regulation in stem cells, including whole-genome methylation profiling, ChIP sequencing, RNA-seq, as well as a suite of novel
CRISPR
CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacte ...
-mediated techniques to investigate the relationship between DNA methylation and gene expression.
More than 150 of her peer-reviewed primary research papers have been published in journals including
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
and Blood.
Awards and honors
She received the DeBakey Award for Excellence in Research in 2004 and 2010, the Stohlman Scholar Award from the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1949, is the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer in the world. The LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's l ...
in 2006, the
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...
’s Established Investigator Award from the year 2006 to 2011, th
Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awardin Medicine in 2011, and the Damashek Prize from the
American Society of Hematology
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists. It was founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes th ...
in 2012, as well as numerous recognitions for her teaching and mentorship. She had mentored more than doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to careers in academia.
Biography
Goodell grew up in
Bryan, Ohio
Bryan is a city in, and the county seat of, Williams County, Ohio, United States. It is located in the state's northwestern corner, southwest of Toledo. The population was 8,729 at the 2020 census.
History
Bryan was platted in 1840 by John ...
with sisters Marian (a founding member and CEO of the
Burning Man Project
The Burning Man Project is the organization that annually plans, manages, and builds Burning Man on the dry lake of the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada. The company coordinates the year-round, behind-the-scenes work needed to build and r ...
), Martha (a management consultant), and Melly (a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
). She is the daughter of Joe Goodell, former CEO of American Brass Company, and niece of
Grace Goodell
Grace E. Goodell is a retired professor of International Development at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Goodell received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University, where she studied under C ...
, professor of International Development at The
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...
School of Advanced International Studies. She lives in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
with her husband and three daughters.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodell, Margaret
Living people
American women biologists
Cell biologists
Baylor College of Medicine faculty
1965 births
People from Bryan, Ohio
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
American women academics
21st-century American women