Iannis Aifantis, PhD

Our laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms of differentiation and transformation of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors. More specifically, we focus on mechanisms of both lymphoid (T-ALL, B-ALL) and myeloid (AML, CML, CMML) leukemia initiation and progression. Our work has identified and studied a number of novel oncogenes (including NOTCH1), tumor suppressors (including FBXW7, TET2, ASXL1, CYLD, EZH2, UTX, cohesins) and downstream oncogenic signaling pathways. We have used these pathways to design molecularly targeted therapeutic protocols that inhibit the induction or affect the maintenance of each malignancy.

Moreover, our laboratory is studying mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and self-renewal using both genomic and genetic approaches. Current areas of focus for our lab include the impact of DNA methylation in stem cell transformation, mapping of long non-coding RNAs in a number of human tumors, the discovery of RNA-binding proteins that can control transformation in leukemia, understanding the impact of the 3D chromosomal architecture in cancer, the role of stress responses in human malignancy, and in vivo mapping of the tumor microenvironment for acute leukemia.