Researchers will fight leukaemia using tools from molecular biology
An interdisciplinary research group at Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital receives DKK 2.5 million from Karen Elise Jensen’s Foundation to examine new treatment options for patients with leukaemia. The research project runs over a three-year period.
Although progress is being made in the treatment of malignant haematological diseases, patients suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) still have a poor survival rate. New forms of treatment are urgently needed, and five researchers from the Departments of Biomedicine and Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University and the Department of Haematology at Aarhus University Hospital will now investigate whether treatment using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing is an option.
The researchers will use the grant to manufacture molecular-biological tools that can correct some of the genetic changes that have been demonstrated in patients with AML. In addition, the grant gives them the opportunity to develop methods that can reprogramme the patients' immune system to attack the leukaemia cells. The hope is that this will result in an immunotherapy treatment which can be transferred to clinical practice.
The researchers behind the project are Bjarne Kuno Møller, Peter Hokland, Christian Kanstrup Holm, Rasmus O. Bak and Marie Bill.
Contact
Head Consultant & Clinical Associate Professor Bjarne Kuno Møller
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital - Blood Bank and Immunology
Mobile: (+45) 51 36 06 93
Email: bjamoell@rm.dk