Jayaraj Rajagopal

3 weeks ago | nature.com | Brian Lin |Atharva Bhagwat |Isha Monga |Ke Xu |Danielle Dionne |Peiwen Cai | +5 more

AbstractHuman airways contain specialized rare epithelial cells including CFTR-rich ionocytes that regulate airway surface physiology and chemosensory tuft cells that produce asthma-associated inflammatory mediators. Here, using a lung cell atlas of 311,748 single cell RNA-Seq profiles, we identify 687 ionocytes (0.45%). In contrast to prior reports claiming a lack of ionocytes in the small airways, we demonstrate that ionocytes are present in small and large airways in similar proportions.

Oct 16, 2024 | nature.com | Mor Grinstein |Miho Tanaka |Terence D. Capellini |Jayaraj Rajagopal

AbstractA tendon’s ordered extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential for transmitting force but is also highly prone to injury. How tendon cells embedded within and surrounding this dense ECM orchestrate healing is not well understood. Here, we identify a specialized quiescent Scx+/Axin2+ population in mouse and human tendons that initiates healing and is a major functional contributor to repair. Axin2+ cells express stem cell markers, expand in vitro, and have multilineage differentiation potential.