For most of their lives, our hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)—which produce all of our blood and immune cells—are quiet and inactive. But they also are the toughest cells in the blood system, able to survive exposure to levels of radiation or viral infections that kill most other blood cells.

A new study from researchers in Columbia’s Stem Cell Initiative has discovered how HSCs cheat death, which could lead to new therapies for blood cancers and other diseases related to aging and improve stem cell transplantation.