Haemato-Oncology

Professor Kamil Kranc's group focuses on discovering cures for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a highly aggressive disorder in which treatment-resistant leukaemic stem cells (LSCs) drive the disease, causing damage to the bone marrow and other organs.

Current therapies damage normal haematopoiesis and can be very toxic, but often fail to eliminate LSCs, resulting in poor disease outcomes and fatal relapses. We aim to identify novel therapeutic targets for selective elimination of LSCs, without disrupting normal haematopoiesis.

We are making important contributions to the following specific research areas:

1. Targeting RNA modifications (i.e. the epitranscriptome) to selectively eliminate LSCs in AML (e.g. Paris et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2019; Mapperley et al., J. Exp. Med., 2021);
2. Therapeutic manipulation of hypoxia pathways in normal and malignant haematopoiesis (e.g. Guitart et al., Blood, 2013; Vukovic et al., J. Exp. Med., 2015; Vukovic et al., Blood, 2016; Lawson et al., Blood Adv., 2021);
3. Discovery of molecular mechanisms controlling haematopoietic stem cell biology and multilineage haematopoiesis (e.g. Kucinski et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2024; Lawson et al., Stem Cell Reports, 2021; Guitart et al., J. Exp. Med., 2017; Kranc et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2009).