Approach
We take a multidisciplinary approach with strong wet lab and dry lab synergy and focus on clinical translation for children with cancer. The Ding lab aims to leverage expertise in clinical medicine, experimental genomics, and systems biology to develop improved combination precision medicine for children with leukemias that are more effective with less toxicity. We believe that by combining collaborative and interdisciplinary expertise in bioinformatics, functional genomics, and clinical medicine, we can overcome the challenges of leukemia resistance and relapse. Our research program combines computational prediction and experimental biology (including molecular biology, next-generation sequencing, and CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing and combination pharmacologic inhibition assays) to study questions of leukemia-intrinsic and -extrinsic mechanisms of therapeutic resistance for eventual clinical translation. We also are developing new-approach methodologies (NAMs) such as non-animal drug testing platforms to more accurately model the human bone marrow microenvironmental interactions that influence leukemia cell resistance and relapse.
We are committed to advancing the field of pediatric leukemia research and to training the next generation of scientists and clinicians.
Interests
The Ding lab has a specific focus on poor-prognosis subtypes of pediatric leukemias, including kinase-driven Philadelphia chromosome-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-like ALL) and other ALL subtypes with high lineage plasticity including KMT2A-r and ZNF384-r B-ALL, mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL), and lineage switched acute myeloid leukemia (LS-AML). We are studying transcriptional rewiring and drug-induced heterogeneity that can lead to targeted agent resistance, and leukemia cell plasticity during treatment in order to design more effective treatment regimens to prevent relapse and improve cure rates in patients.
