Cancer Research UK’s Career Development Fellowship provides support for new group leaders establishing their independent research group. In this CRUK-funded project, Verena Korber and her team will develop advanced mathematical models of human blood production in health and leukaemia.
Blood is a mixture of cells that support our body with nutrients and protect us from infections. While some blood cells persist for years, most are short-lived and must be continually replaced. This renewal is achieved by an intricate hierarchy: long-lived stem cells in our bone marrow produce so-called progenitor cells that, ultimately, give rise to diverse mature blood cells.
In leukaemia - a cancer of the blood - this hierarchy becomes perturbed. Progenitors lose their normal function and accumulate in bone marrow and blood. Mature blood cells are displaced and blood function can no longer be maintained. Although DNA mutations are known to drive this process, key questions remain about when these mutations first arise and how they alter the dynamics of stem and progenitor cell activity.
To address these questions, the team will use naturally occurring DNA changes in blood cells as markers. By tracking these changes in blood and bone marrow samples of patients with leukaemia, they aim to reconstruct when the disease began, how quickly it evolved, and how normal blood production changed over time. These insights could improve early diagnosis and risk stratification, and help guide therapeutic intervention.
Speaking about the award, Dr Verena Korber said:
This fellowship is a unique opportunity for me and my team, and I am incredibly grateful to my mentors for their support throughout my journey. I look forward to building a collaborative, multidisciplinary research group dedicated to uncovering the timescales of cancer development in humans.