Massachusetts General Hospital

Research

Dr. Rajagopal is a developmental biologist at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and a pulmonologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests include lung developmental and regenerative biology and the application of developmental biology to human disease. His current focus is the identification of a lung stem cell. Using an efficient in vivo model of tracheal regeneration, he has developed a novel functional assay for lung stem cells. His research program also includes projects to differentiate human embryonic stem cells into lung cells and projects that involve the use of large screening platforms to isolate and identify self-renewing lung stem cells in culture.

Publications

Rajagopal J, Anderson W, Kume S, Martinez O, Melton D. Insulin Staining of ES Cell Progeny from Insulin Uptake. Science 2003;299:363.

Zhou Q, Law AC, Rajagopal J, Anderson WJ, Gray PA, Melton DA. A Multipotent Progenitor Domain Guides Pancreatic Organogenesis. Dev Cell 2007;13:103-14.

Tu X, Joeng KS, Nakayama KI, Rajagopal J, Carroll TJ, McMahon AP, Long F. Noncanonical Wnt signaling through G protein-linked PKCdelta activation promotes bone formation. Dev Cell 2007;12:113-27.

Shaw AT, Meissner A, Dowdle JA, Crowley D, Magendatz M, Ouyang C, Parisi T, Rajagopal J, Blank LJ, Bronson RT, Stone JR, Tuveson DA, Jaenisch R, Jacks T. Sprouty- regulates oncogenic K-ras in lung development and tumorigenesis. Genes Dev. 2008;15:694-707.

Rajagopal J, Carroll TJ, Guseh JS, Bores SA, Blank LJ, Anderson WJ, Yu J, Zhou Q, McMahon AP, Melton DA. Wnt7b stimulates embryonic lung growth by coordinately increasing the replication of epithelium and mesenchyme. Development 2008;135: 1625-34.

Zhou Q, Brown J, Kanarek A, Rajagopal J, Melton DA. In vivo reprogramming of adult pancreatic exocrine cells to beta-cells. Nature. 2008; 455: 627-32.

Stenman JM, Rajagopal J, Carroll TJ, Ishibashi M, McMahon J, McMahon AP. Canonical Wnt signaling regulates organ-specific assembly and differentiation of CNS vasculature. Science 2008; 322: 1247-50.

Guseh J, Bores S, Stanger B, Zhou Q, Anderson W, Melton D, Rajagopal J. Notch signaling regulates epithelial cell fate in both embryonic lung and adult airway epithelium. Development.

Mass General Researchers Take Major Step Toward a Treatment for Cystic Fibrosis

Researchers in the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have taken a critical step toward a treatment for Cystic fibrosis and other fatal lung diseases.

Big advance against cystic fibrosis

MGH researchers have taken a critical step in making possible the discovery in the relatively near future of a drug to control cystic fibrosis, a fatal lung disease that claims about 500 lives each year, with 1,000 new cases diagnosed annually.