Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology

Committee Roster

Chair
Andrew C. Perkins, MD, PhD, MBBS  ('26)

Vice Chair
Swee Lay Thein, MD  ('26)

Appointed Members
Marjorie Brand, PhD  ('28)
Yong Cheng, PhD  ('28)
Elizabeth Egan, MD, PhD  ('28)
Patrick G. Gallagher, MD  ('27)
Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam, PhD  ('27)
Umut Atakan Gurkan, PhD  ('26)
Gerard D. Hills, MD  ('26)
Morgan McLemore, MD  ('28)

Staff Liaison
Alice Kuaban, MS

Committee Mandate

Focus of the Committee:

The Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology focuses on erythroblast and erythrocyte biology in normal and disease states. Its interests include the process of erythropoiesis, including erythroid cell evolution, development, differentiation, and aging, as well as critical processes of the erythroblast and erythrocyte including signaling, metabolism, hydration, membrane structure and function, and the synthesis, structure, and function of hemoglobin and related oxygen biology.

The Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology covers the clinical areas of inherited and acquired disorders of the erythrocyte. Inherited disorders include the hemoglobinopathies and related disorders, disorders of metabolism, membrane abnormalities and other disorders of red blood cell shape, dyserythropoietic anemias and failure of erythroid cell production, and inherited erythrocytosis. Acquired disorders include abnormalities of erythrocyte shape, nutritional anemias, anemia of inflammation, anemia of chronic disease, and anemia of aging, environmental insults perturbing erythroid cell structure or function, aplastic anemia, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, and polycythemia vera. Acquired disorders also include those associated with infectious agents, especially malaria.

The Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology deals with the methodologic aspects of erythrocyte synthesis and breakdown, including genetic and epigenetic control of gene regulation, erythroid cell development and differentiation, hemoglobin and oxygen, membrane structure and function, and erythrocyte metabolism. Furthermore, a major focus is on using the erythroid cell system as a powerful model to develop fundamental regulatory principles at the systems, cellular, and molecular levels, which inform biology and medicine much more broadly than the restricted field of red cell biology

The Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology focuses on emerging technologies and their application to the erythrocyte. This includes application of new technologies to study the normal and abnormal erythroblast and erythrocyte, importantly including the omic technologies, systems biology, and synthetic biology, and emerging information on disease-related pathobiology, diagnosis, and treatment.

Related Committees: Potential Areas of Overlap:

Scientific Committee on Iron and Heme: There is potential overlap in topics including regulation of heme synthesis and breakdown. The Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology focuses more specifically on hemoglobin, particularly globin, and regulatory aspects of erythroid cell iron metabolism, whereas the Scientific Committee on Iron and Heme focuses more on heme, heme- and non-heme iron, iron metabolism, and disorders of heme and iron metabolism affecting the erythrocyte.

Scientific Committee on Blood Disorders in Childhood: There is potential overlap in specific disorders of the erythrocyte, as many present predominantly in infancy and childhood. Examples could include Fanconi anemia, Diamond-Blackfan anemia, severe inherited disorders of hemoglobin, metabolism, or the membrane. Some disorders are germane to both subcommittees.