Cell cycle progression and competitive behaviour

Stem cells that proliferate faster out-compete their neighbours and colonise the niche. How the cell cycle rate affects this competitive ability is not understood.
Using live imaging, we are studying what happens to individual stem cells before, during and after cell division, and using that information to understand how the cell cycle length affects competitive behaviour. We are using genetics to clonally accelerate or disrupt cell cycle progression in single stem cells and observe how their dynamics are affected.