The group is part of the Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM).
About our research
The main focus of our research is to discover factors and pathways that represent potential drug targets in AML and to delineate the underlying molecular mechanisms by which they are involved in pathogenesis. With this objective we use functional genomic techniques, in vivo models, patient derived cells and cell- and molecular biology techniques.
Projects
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive blood cancer and less than 20% of adults and only about 60% of the children are cured of their disease, highlighting the urgent need of more effective treatment strategies.
Although the mechanisms of the disease remain incompletely understood, it is well established that cooperating genetic and epigenetic alterations contribute to AML pathogenesis. Various studies have demonstrated that individual AML tumor samples contain several hundreds to thousands of different gene mutations. The consequence of these genetic and epigenetic alterations is a widespread transcriptional deregulation of gene expression that give the cancer cells a proliferative growth advantage compared to normal cells. For the vast majority of these abnormalities it is not known which genes or downstream regulatory pathways that contribute to the initiation, maintenance and development of AML.
Current projects
Current projects in our research group aims to identify and characterize novel biologically and clinically relevant genes with a role in AML pathogenesis and maintenance.
The projects aim to:
- Identify and characterize novel “druggable” epigenetic target genes that can serve as potential therapeutic targets to battle AML.
- Functionally annotate the causative mutations that are involved in AML pathogenesis.
- Determine the underlying molecular mechanisms by which the identified target genes contribute to AML pathogenesis and tumor expansion.
Towards these goals, we have established a cutting-edge technical and methodological platform, including flow cytometry, genome-wide mapping and analysis of epigenetic modifications (ChIP-sequencing and MeDIP-Seq), large-scale genetic screening systems, patient-derived AML cells and in vivo AML model systems. The ultimate aim is that the proposed strategy can lead to the discovery of relevant drug targets that can facilitate the development of novel therapeutic interventions in AML treatment.
Keywords:
AML, RNAi screening, functional genomics, epigenetics, in vivo cancer models, molecular mechanisms