| Our Faculty

David Breault, M.D., Ph.D.

David Breault’s research focuses on understanding the hormonal regulation of stem cells and their lineage development. His laboratory is focused on identifying mechanisms underlying tissue homeostasis in self-renewing tissues, such as intestine, adrenal gland, bone.

The Breault lab is investigating telomerase expression as a biomarker for self-renewing progenitor/stem cells. Their efforts have led to the generation of mTert-reporter mice and the discovery of several populations of slowly-cycling tissue stem cells, including an elusive intestinal stem cell. Ongoing efforts are aimed at characterizing stem cell responses to physiological and pathological stress and age with the ultimate goal to improve therapeutic treatment options for a wide range of conditions.

Breault obtained his B.S. from Trinity College (USA) and his M.D./Ph.D. from the University Connecticut School of Medicine, followed by clinical and research training at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is a Principal Faculty Member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and a Member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Faculty.

  • Associate Professor of Pediatrics
    Boston Children's Hospital
  • Principal Faculty
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute
  • Faculty Member
    Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology

Contact Information

Children's Hospital, Endocrinology, CLS 16 026, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston MA 02115
david.breault@childrens.harvard.edu

Featured Publications

  • Kasendra M, Tovaglieri A, Sontheimer-Phelps A, Jalili-Firoozinezhad S, Bein A, Chalkiadaki A, Scholl W, Zhang C, Rickner H, Richmond CA, Li H, Breault DT, Ingber DE. 2018. Development of a primary human Small Intestine-on-a-Chip using biopsy-derived organoids. Scientific reports. 8(1):2871. Pubmed: 29440725 DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-21201-7
    Read Abstract
  • Richmond CA, Rickner H, Shah MS, Ediger T, Deary L, Zhou F, Tovaglieri A, Carlone DL, Breault DT. 2018. JAK/STAT-1 Signaling Is Required for Reserve Intestinal Stem Cell Activation during Intestinal Regeneration Following Acute Inflammation. Stem cell reports. 10(1):17-26. Pubmed: 29276155
    Read Abstract
  • Tao L, Zhang J, Meraner P, Tovaglieri A, Wu X, Gerhard R, Zhang X, Stallcup WB, Miao J, He X, Hurdle JG, Breault DT, Brass AL, Dong M. 2016. Frizzled proteins are colonic epithelial receptors for C. difficile toxin B. Nature. 538(7625):350-355. Pubmed: 27680706 DOI:10.1038/nature19799
    Read Abstract
  • Pignatti E, Leng S, Carlone DL, Breault DT. 2017. Regulation of zonation and homeostasis in the adrenal cortex. Molecular and cellular endocrinology. 441:146-155. Pubmed: 27619404
    Read Abstract
  • Richmond CA, Shah MS, Carlone DL, Breault DT. 2016. An enduring role for quiescent stem cells. Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists. 245(7):718-26. Pubmed: 27153394 DOI:10.1002/dvdy.24416
    Read Abstract
  • Richmond CA, Shah MS, Carlone DL, Breault DT. 2016. Factors regulating quiescent stem cells: insights from the intestine and other self-renewing tissues. The Journal of physiology. 594(17):4805-13. Pubmed: 26670741 DOI:10.1113/JP271653
    Read Abstract
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