Uncovering the Root of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The goal of our laboratory is to develop better therapies to treat patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Patients with acute myeloid leukemia often have an initial response to therapy; however, the disease often reoccurs, and many patients will succumb to this relapsed disease. Not all AML cells are created equally. Indeed, a small subset of cells called leukemia stem cells (LSCs) persist throughout treatment and drive disease relapse. Therefore, it is critically important that we develop new therapies to better target LSCs.
Focus on Leukemia Stem Cells
LSCs have unique properties that differentiate them from the bulk leukemic cells and normal blood stem cells. One property that differentiates LSCs from other cells is their unique metabolic requirements. Our lab studies LSC metabolism with the objective of identifying therapeutic strategies to target LSC specific metabolic properties resulting in LSC death.
