Title:   
President and Scientific Director

Institute:
Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal

Department:  
Laboratory Hematopoiesis & Cancer

Province:
Quebec

Training:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
PhD, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Molecular Oncology, University of Munich, Germany

Research interests:
Immunology, Cancer and Hematopoiesis 

Recognitions:
Recognition Prize - CIHR
Canada Research Chair Tier 1 (title: Hematopoiesis and Immune cell Differenciation)  

Career highlights:
Abbott Young Investigator Award for PhD thesis 1987
Nomination as full professor, University Duisburg Essen 1996
Nomination as president and scientific director of the IRCM and a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in 2006 and 2007

Research Projects

Project title:
Role of the transcription factor Gfi1 and the Gfi136N variant in Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

Funding period: 
2011-2013

Program:
Operating Grant (basic research)

Summary:
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a form of blood cancer, which originates in the bone marrow and features an expanded subset of white blood cells, called myeloid cells. The maturation of these myeloid cells requires genetic programming, which is ensured by specific proteins called transcription factors. We have observed that loss of the transcription factor Gfi1, leads to an accumulation of myeloid cells in mice that is reminiscent of a condition that often precedes overt myeloid leukemia. We also have discovered a variant of the Gfi1 gene and that humans that carry this variant have a higher risk to develop AML. We were further able to show that the Gfi1 variant accelerates an experimental AML like disease in mice. and we discovered that the Gfi1 variant associated with AML introduced so called epigenetic alteration in the genome that lead to aberrant gene regulation. We wish to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms that causes these epigenetic changes to better under stand the disease and to eventually prepare the ground for the better therapies.

CRS publications:

Vassen L, Khandanpour C, Ebeling P, van der Reijden BA, Jansen JH, Mahlmann S, Dührsen U and Möröy T. Growth factor independent 1b (Gfi1b) and a new splice variant of Gfi1b are highly expressed in patients with acute and chronic leukemia. Int. J. Hematol. 2009, May;89(4):422-30.

Khandanpour C,Thiede C, Valk, PJM, Sharif-Askari E, Nückel H, Lohmann D, Horsthemke B, Siffert W, Neubauer A, Grzeschik KH, Bloomfield CD, Marcucci G, Maharry K, Slovak ML, van der Reijden BA, Jansen JA, Schackert HK, Afshar K, Schnittger S, Peeters JK, Frank Kroschinsky F, Ehninger G, Lowenberg B, Dührsen D and Möröy T. A variant allele of Growth Factor Independence 1 (GFI1) is associated with acute myeloid leukemia. Blood, 2010, Mar 25;115(12):2462-72.

Khandanpour C, Sharif-Askari E, Gaudreau MC, Vassen L, Zhu J, Paul W, Okoyama T, Kosan C, and Möröy T.Evidence that Growth factor independence 1b (Gfi1b) regulates dormancy and peripheral blood mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells. Blood, 2010, in press

Past CRS projects:

2009 Role of the myeloid transcription factor Gfi1 and the Gfi136N variant in human Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

2007 Role of the myeloid transcription factor Gfi1 and the Gfi136N variant in human Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)