Kristine focused on the isolation and functional characterization of fetal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during her CIRM Bridges year in Dr. Irving Weissman’s laboratory at Stanford University. HSCs are responsible for the lifelong production of blood and immune cells. HSC transplant is clinically established as effective treatment in both malignant and non-malignant disease, but HSCs remain in short supply. Additionally, attempts to produce HSCs in vitro on a clinical scale have not be successful. The generation of HSCs from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), an unlimited source of human and patient specific cells, is a key goal in HSC regenerative medicine. Kristine’s work focused on understanding how HSCs develop. She used the adult HSC marker Hoxb5 to enhance the purification of fetal HSCs throughout developmental hematopoiesis. This understanding of mammalian HSC development provides key transcriptional and functional information that will directly facilitate the in vitro generation of human HSCs from hPSCs.