A novel subset of airway basal cells: identification of a stem/progenitor cell population in the human respiratory system

The basal cell is the reported resident stem cell population in the human proximal airway and is responsible for maintaining the respiratory epithelium during homeostasis and in response to injury. However, we still do not fully understand the stem cell capabilities of this epithelial cell population. The goal of this dissertation is to address the question of whether there is heterogeneity within the human airway basal cell population and how we can answer the question experimentally.