Posts

ISEH 2023 Scientific Award Winners

-
Image
On behalf of the Awards Committee, ISEH would like to congratulate the recipients of the 2023 ISEH Society Scientific Awards, which will be presented at the ISEH 52nd Annual Scientific Meeting . Donald Metcalf Award Winner – Margaret (“Peggy”) A. Goodell This year, the 2023 Donald Metcalf Award goes to Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Goodell, who currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Vivian L. Smith Chair of Regenerative Medicine, directs and founded the Stem Cells and Regenerative (STaR) Center, and serves as a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Molecular and Human Genetics, Pediatrics, and Pathology and Immunology at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Goodell has served as a faculty member at Baylor completing her doctoral training at the University of Cambridge with Andrew Smith and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Whitehead Institute at MIT and Harvard Medical School, under the guidance of Richard C. Mulligan. She was elected to the
Post a Comment
Read more

How we can improve diversity in our research by understanding intersectionality with A/Prof Nada Hamad

-
Image
In undertaking our research, we seek to develop theories and models to help us better understand haematopoiesis and blood related disorders. What is overwhelmingly clear and supported by extensive data is that our research can be improved by increasing both inclusivity and diversity in our workforce 1,2 . When scientists come from diverse backgrounds, they bring with them different experiences, perspectives, and ways of thinking that enrich scientific research. For example, a diverse group of scientists might approach a problem from different angles, or ask different questions, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. To help us understand more about inclusion and diversity in our own research, the ISEH Junior Faculty Committee asked A/Prof Nada Hamad to help explain the concept of intersectionality. Dr Hamad began the webinar but outlining her personal journey and in particular an event from around 10 years ago for when she had her first child. During labour she w
Post a Comment
Read more

A New Working Model: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

-
Image
1. Introduction Since the report of a serial of mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has already lasted for over 3 years. A lot of things have changed in our daily and professional life, most were unimaginable before this bizarre time. These include border closures, nation-wide lockdowns and people rushing to supermarkets for toilet papers. But not all changes are bad, and the future will likely embrace some of these positive changes such as flexible learning and working models and accelerated research on mRNA vaccine development and other scientific areas. In this blog post, the members of the ISEH New Investigator Committee will discuss our view on how the pandemic affect our working models as hematologists. 2. The old normal The old norm refers to the way things were done before the COVID-19 Pandemic. This would typically involve work and socialize in-person, travel freely and attend large gatherings. In academia, the old norm would
Post a Comment
Read more

Lab Spotlight: Tikhonova Lab

-
Image
Each month, Simply Blood spotlights a lab contributing to the fields of hematology, immunology, stem cell research, cell and gene therapies, and more. Get to know groups doing cutting edge research from around the world! This month, we are featuring the Tikhonova Lab which is based out of the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Canada ( https://tikhonovalab.com ). How long have you had your lab and who is currently in your group? We started in August 2020 and have been growing ever since. Our diverse and multidisciplinary team has two postdoctoral fellows, two Ph.D. students, an animal technician, part-time computational scientific associate, and a lab manager. What made you interested in pursuing a career as an academic researcher? I always valued academic research as it affords me the freedom to pursue my own ideas. You are only limited by your imagination and, at times, technology. What is the major research theme of your lab and how did you choose your lab’
Post a Comment
Read more

ISEH 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting – Highlights from the New Investigators Committee

-
Image
For four days in September, more than 500 ISEH members travelled from 25 countries around the world to beautiful Edinburgh in Scotland for the ISEH Annual Scientific Meeting. Attendees were treated to an amazing program of speakers, and given the opportunity to network and present their work to the community in lively social events and poster sessions. The meeting also included events targeting the students and postdocs that make up the ISEH new investigator community. In this blog post, members of the ISEH New Investigator Committee summarize some of their meeting highlights: New Investigator Pre-Meeting Workshop The ISEH pre-meeting workshop allowed trainees to present their research and network within the community. We first heard five great talks from trainees, then all of the trainees presented posters. ISEH faculty were invited to the event to judge both the oral and poster presentations, so every trainee got to talk to at least three faculty about their work. The afternoon also
Post a Comment
Read more

Lab Spotlight: Sturgeon Lab

-
Image
Each month, Simply Blood spotlights a lab focused on the research of basic hematology, immunology, stem cell research, cell and gene therapy, and other related aspects. Get to know these different labs around the world! This month, we are featuring the Sturgeon Lab ( www.sturgeonlab.com )  at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai located in New York City, New York, USA. Sturgeon Lab at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Twitter: @Dr_Sturgeon How long have you had your lab? I first opened my lab at Washington University, in March of 2014.   We then moved to Mount Sinai in New York in August of 2020. What was your biggest transition from a post-doc to a group leader/lab PI? Or what do you miss most from your post-doc time? I remember being so overwhelmed and star-struck just seeing, for the first time, the space that was going to be my lab.   So much so, that I forgot to ask key questions about how things like renovations could be handled, HVAC and electrical limitat
Post a Comment
Read more

Exploring Experimental Hematology: June 2021 (Volume 98)

-
Image
DNA methylation therapy joins forces in IDH2 -mutant AML Isocitrate dehydrogenases 1 and 2 ( IDH1 /2) are frequently mutated in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), with nearly 20% of patients carrying gain-of-function point mutations in these genes (Ley et al., 2013) . IDH2 is a metabolic enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of isocitrate to 2-oxoglutarate during the Krebs cycle. Patients carrying IDH2 gain-of-function mutations produce instead high levels of the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), which inhibits oxoglutarate-dependent enzymes such as the TET family of methylcytosine dioxygenases, responsible for active DNA demethylation (Xu et al., 2011) . As a consequence, IDH2 mutations in AML patients induce DNA hypermethylation and inhibit hematopoietic differentiation (Figueroa et al., 2010) . Azacytidine (AZA) and enasidenib (ENA) are commonly used AML therapies which induce DNA hypomethylation, albeit through different mechanisms. AZA is a nucleoside analog that inhibits
Post a Comment
Read more