About the Center

Hematologic cancers affect the bone marrow and lymph nodes. They include lymphomas and leukemias. These cancers can occur in people of all ages, including children and young adults. Together, members of the Center of Excellence in Hematological Malignancies and Hematology do research to better understand how to prevent and treat these cancers. The center has four broad goals:

1. Identify and avoid defective cellular functions that cause hematologic cancers
2. Develop effective treatments for them
3. Learn inherited factors that raise the risk for these cancers
4. Develop animal models to test new therapies

Hematology Research Resource

The Hematology Research Resource serves the research community by providing access to the tools, resources, and expertise required to carry out research relevant to hematology. Staff are available to discuss possible projects, give expert input, provide hands-on training in techniques, and perform advanced protocols.

Staff and resources are also available to develop and conduct correlative studies as part of clinical trials. Please contact us during protocol development to discuss whether a correlative study is right for your trial.

Hematology Biobank

The Hematology Biobank at Huntsman Cancer Institute maintains plasma, mononuclear cells, and CD34+ cells from a variety of myeloid and lymphoid diseases. Samples are highly annotated and custom clinical annotation is available to find samples that meet your exact criteria. We can collect fresh samples from your patient population of interest or work with you to determine which frozen samples will work best for your study. Please contact us to discuss your study: Tony Pomicter or Tim Luetkens.

View select publications.

A Sample of Current Projects

• Correlating clinical outcomes and gene expression. Center members are working to identify subgroups of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), using gene expression profiling in tumor samples. They will correlate the gene expression profiles with clinical characteristics and outcomes. Broader objectives include identifying appropriate treatments for the different types as new metabolic therapies become available.

• Identifying genes for inherited susceptibility to multiple myeloma. Working from the unique resources of the Utah Population Database, the center looks for genes associated with a familial risk for multiple myeloma. Evidence suggests a familial predisposition for this disease, but the genes are still unknown. Finding them could potentially lead to earlier identification of the disease and perhaps new therapeutic approaches.