The Utah Center for Iron and Heme Disorders (UCIHD) seeks to enhance our understanding of hematopoiesis, a process that involves formation of blood cells from hematopoietic stem cells. The goals of the UCIHD are to support research on hematopoiesis through pilot grant funding and enhance education on molecular/cellular biological pathways involved in normal hematopoietic stem cell biology and erythroid differentiation and disease states. One facet of erythroid differentiation involves hemoglobin synthesis and the insertion of its iron-containing heme cofactor.

UCIHD core facilities will provide access to a variety of advanced technologies and capabilities to researchers affiliated with the UCIHD. The core facilities supported by UCIHD include

  • The Mutation Generation Detection Core offering TALEN and Crispr-Cas9 genomic editing,
  • The Metabolomics Core offering LC-MS, GC-MS and lipidomics services,​
  • The Protein-Metabolite Discovery Core offering high-content discovery and validation services to identify regulatory metabolite ligands that interact with user target proteins, and​
  • The Iron and Heme Core providing analyses of metals, porphyrins and heme.​

All projects funded by the UCIHD must comply with this mission statement and utilize the supported cores.