Current Research and Scholarly Interests
I am a physician-scientist in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation-Cell Therapy (BMT-CT) at Stanford University. The focus of my laboratory research is the exploration of safe and more accessible forms of cell therapy for myeloid malignancies. I joined the laboratory of Dr. Judith Shizuru and produced multi-antigen targeting antibodies to recruit Natural Killer (NK) cells and macrophages to eliminate myeloid leukemic clones. Preclinical studies in xenograft models of myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia are showing promising results. Additionally, I have engineered NK cells using their cytokine receptors to potentiate their leukemia cytotoxicity. Preclinical studies with these engineered NK cells for Myelodysplastic syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia are ongoing. My translational research focuses on evaluating Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (TSLP) as a novel biomarker for Acute Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) which is a common and significant complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
