Posts found in:
Grantees

Activation of Signal Transduction Pathways in Leukemia Leukemia is a disease in which the bone marrow produces an abnormally high number of white blood cells that do not mature into normally functioning white blood cells capable of fighting infection. There is considerable evidence that both normal hematopoietic cells (precursor cells that mature into functional blood […]

T-Cells to Control the Graft-Versus-Host Effect of Nonmyeloablative Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation The aim of this project is to develop T cells to help further reduce the toxicity of bone marrow transplantation. Bone marrow transplantation, also known as hematopoietic cell transplantation, is the only curative treatment available for many patients with passive apostraphe leukemia and lymphoma. […]

The Molecular Genetics of Acute Megakaryocytic Leukemia AMkL accounts for 15% of childhood AML and has a very poor prognosis. Although a few chromosomal abnormalities have been identified in AMkL, the genetic lesions underlying most cases remain unknown. Recent transcriptome analysis of AMkL performed in Dr. Larson’s laboratory identified a novel inv16(q24.3;p13.3) encoding a CBFA2T3-GLIS2 […]

Blockade of autocrine signaling for curative therapy of acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a blood cancer that frequently affects both children and adults. Current treatment of AML with chemotherapy is toxic, and new therapies are direly needed for patients whose disease is resistant to intensive chemotherapy. Our research into molecular signaling pathways […]

New approaches to Haploidentical Hemopoietic Cell Transplant Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a potential curative treatment for lymphomas, myeloma and leukemias. In absence of a related or unrelated matched donor, the most relevant hematopoietic cell source is a partially-matched (haploidentical) related donor sibling, child or parent. Unfortunately the use of haploidentical donor is limited […]

Novel Approaches to Target PRC2 Enzymatic Complexes for the Treatment of Hematopoietic Malignancies Enzymes that modify chromatin (the physiological form of DNA) are commonly found hyper-activated among lymphoma and myeloma. Novel therapeutics needs to be developed for treating these currently incurable malignancies. We investigate the mechanisms for their hyperactivities and develop new ways for their […]

Investigating the role of the ROBO1 protein in the development of blood cancers The Roundabout receptor 1 (ROBO1) is a recently discovered molecule. ROBO1 has been shown to be involved in the genesis of certain cancers and the development of the blood vessels that feed tumors. Alterations in the gene encoding ROBO1 occurs in children […]

Modulation of Immune Cell Homing and Interaction by Mesenchymal Stem Cell within CNS Tumor Microenvironment Cancer cells manage to evade detection and elimination by the immune system whose job is to recognize and eliminate the threat of foreign invaders and cancer cells in the body. Dr. Huang’s laboratory proposes to take advantage of a unique […]

My work focuses on understanding key protein interactions that go awry in cancer and developing novel drugs that block these interactions and promote cancer cell death.

Therapeutic Activation of the PP2A Tumor Suppressor in High-Risk T-cell Acute Lymphomblastic Leukemia High‐risk T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T‐ALL) is typically incurable with current therapy. We performed a zebrafish drug screen, which revealed that perphenazine (a clinical antipsychotic) has anti‐T‐ALL activity via reactivation of PP2A, an important tumor suppressor. Here, we will investigate the biology […]

A Diet and Activity Intervention to Improve Survival and Quality of Life in Obese Adolescents Receiving Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common childhood cancer and relapse is the leading cause of death. Obesity during treatment is associated with relapse and greater side effects. We propose to conduct a clinical […]

Identification and correction of T cell defects in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and impact on T cell therapy. Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia can be treated with a variety of regimens, but only cell therapies such as transplant or genetically-modified T cells (CART19) can be curative. Our research proposes to test the combination of […]