Dr. Hope is an expert in the molecular control of normal and malignant stem cells of the blood system. Her experience in stem cell research began with PhD work in the lab of Dr. John Dick at the University of Toronto and was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship dissecting stem cell regulatory control mechanisms using functional genetics at the Université de Montreal. Dr. Hope began her independent research program as an Assistant Professor at McMaster University in 2010 and was recruited in 2020 by the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network where she is a Senior Scientist and holds an Associate Professorship in the Dept. of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. In her current work, Dr. Hope aims to identify the underlying processes that lead to the transformation of healthy cells into leukemic cells and contribute to the progression of the disease. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular control of stemness at the level of RNA processing and regulation. She is applying this paradigm to identify mediators of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal, define the RNA binding protein effectors of leukemic stem cell function in myeloid leukemia and dissect the integrated role of RNA binding proteins in stemness from a systems perspective. With this work, Dr. Hope and her team aim to identify novel stem cell regulators that could inform the design of enhanced hematopoietic stem cell-based regenerative therapies and leukemic stem cell-targeted anti-leukemic treatments.