Jason Mills, MD, PhD

I am a human pathologist and scientist focusing on cell and developmental biology, as well as bioinformatics. From a human health standpoint, my lab works mostly on diseases of the GI tract. From a mechanism perspective, we study how cells in tissue adapt to various stressors that cause them to increase proliferation or change their functional identity. Thus, we are interested in both tissue stem cells and how mature cells can be recruited as stem cells and rearrange their structure to become proliferative. We have shown that cells have a universal program, like those for division and death, to do this. This cellular program, which we have named paligenosis, helps fuel tissue repair but also allows old cells to proliferate. Paligenosis is regenerative but also increases risk for mutation accumulation and development of chronic, pre-cancerous conditions (like metaplasia) and, eventually, tumorigenesis. I have also led several translational efforts, including clinical trials, to use my lab’s study of paligenosis to better prevent or treat tumors.