Hematopoietic Stem Cell Niche: Quiescence vs Self-Renewal

Bone-marrow haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) sit in a specialised niche of osteoblasts, CXCL12-abundant reticular cells and sinusoidal endothelium, whose SCF, CXCL12 and thrombopoietin signalling decides whether each of ~10,000 HSCs stays dormant, divides symmetrically to renew the pool, or commits to a progenitor fate and leaves. This 3D simulator renders that niche as a curved endosteal surface of docking sites: tune the adhesion-signal and TPO sliders to watch quiescence rise and fall, or trigger a myeloablative stress event to crash niche health and watch the population recover as the niche regenerates — the same self-renewal-versus-differentiation balance that governs bone-marrow transplantation and long-term blood production.