A MODEL FOR LIFE - Stem cells and ageing in the blood: an interview with Margaret (Peggy) Goodell

Sep 28, 2026

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A Model for Life interview with Margaret (Peggy) Goodell highlights her career advancing understanding of haematopoietic stem cells and explaining how regulatory mechanisms fail during ageing and disease. The discussion traces her path from early curiosity in science to training in the USA and UK, PhD work at Cambridge, and development of the ‘side population’ method for isolating haematopoietic stem cells. It also explores key discoveries linking ageing and cancer in blood and outlines lessons from stem cell biology for disease understanding and mitigation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

A MODEL FOR LIFE

Career origins and early interest in science

Moving between the USA and UK for study

Contributions to haematopoietic stem cell research

Exciting discoveries during the career

© 2025 . Published by The Company of Biologists | Disease Models & Mechanisms (2025) 18, dmm052784 . doi:10 . 1242/dmm.052784 A MODEL FOR LIFE Stem cells and ageing in the blood: an interview with Margaret (Peggy) Goodell Margaret (Peggy) Goodell* Margaret (Peggy) Goodell has significantly advanced our understanding of haematopoietic stem cells – the stem cells that develop into different types of specialised blood cells. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, USA. Peggy completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK, before returning to the USA to carry out postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, in Cambridge, MA, where she pioneered a novel technique for isolating haematopoietic stem cells, known as the ‘side population’ method. She then joined Baylor College of Medicine in 1997 to start her own lab and has stayed there since. Peggy’s research focuses on regulatory mechanisms in haematopoietic stem cells and how these go awry during ageing and disease. The significance of her research has been recognised by multiple prestigious awards, including the Tobias Award from the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology. In this ‘A Model for Life’ interview, we discuss Peggy’s impressive career path, the parallels between ageing and cancer in the blood, and the lessons we can learn from stem cell biology to understand and mitigate disease. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you first become interested in science? I was always very curious about the natural world as I grew up in the countryside surrounded by nature. My mother was a birdwatcher, and my grandmother was always trying to encourage my interests by sending me books on science that were age appropriate. So, it started from an early age, and I got more and more interested over time. You’re from the USA but moved to the UK during your undergraduate degree and then stayed foryour PhD. How did you find living and studying abroad at this stage in your career? It’s a bit ofan unusual trajectory. I started my undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA. I really wanted to do a semester abroad so I found a programme I could join at Imperial College London, UK. I really enjoyed the way that the studies in molecular biology were structured there, so I decided to stay at Imperial College and get my undergraduate degree there. Then, when I looked at PhD programmes, I ultimately decided to stay in Molecular and Cellular Biology Department, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, BCM130, Houston, TX 77030, USA. *E-mail: [goodell@bcm.edu](goodell@bcm.edu) M. G. , 0000-0003-1111-2932 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed. Margaret (Peggy) Goodell the UK and go to Cambridge. Having grown up in a small town, moving to London was just fabulous. It gave me an opportunity to travel a lot around Europe, so, personally, it was a great period of growth. Science was done a little bit differently in those days between the USA and UK, too – it still is. It was a good experience and good training to see those differences. After my PhD, I figured, as an American, it was time to go back to learn how to do science again in the USA, so I came back for my postdoc and have stayed since. You have made significant contributions to the hematopoietic stem cell field. How did you come to work in this area? During my PhD, I started working with embryonic stem cells, which was before other people really knew what they were. We got a culture from Martin Evans’ lab, which was very, very

FAQs

What field has Margaret (Peggy) Goodell advanced, according to the interview text?

She has significantly advanced understanding of haematopoietic stem cells and how regulatory mechanisms in these cells go awry during ageing and disease.

What technique is mentioned for isolating haematopoietic stem cells?

The interview describes the ‘side population’ method, which she pioneered during postdoctoral work.

Which two major themes are discussed alongside her career path?

The interview focuses on parallels between ageing and cancer in the blood and on lessons from stem cell biology to understand and mitigate disease.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Fans