Two past recipients of
National Blood Foundation early-career Scientific Research Grants recently published research in peer-reviewed journals and on a pre-print research platform.
Sandhya R. Panch, MBBS, PPHS,
a 2016 grant recipient, published findings comparing the engraftment and clonality of macaque hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) expanded on human umbilical vein endothelial cells versus non-expanded cells in the journal
Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Development.
In the study, Panch and her colleagues reported – for the first time at a clonal level – the development and utilization of a highly quantitative and sensitive pre-clinically relevant model to simultaneously compare the engraftment potential and in vivo behavior of ex vivo expanded HSPCs with their non-expanded counterparts. According to Panch, these findings have significant clinical implications as the macaque model, unlike its murine counterpart, mimics human physiology much more closely in many regards.
Mobin Karimi, MD, PhD,
who also received an NBF grant in 2016, recently published research in the journal
iScience and on bioRxiv, the preprint server for biology. In the research detailed in
iScience, Karimi and his colleagues demonstrated that targeting the SLP76 inducible T cell kinase (ITK) interaction and its downstream factors significantly suppresses graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) pathogenesis while maintaining graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects in a mouse model of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. They also found that SLP76Y145FKI donor T cells exhibit minimal GVHD but maintain GVL activity.
In the research detailed in
bioRxiv, Karimi and his colleagues reported that T cell factor 1 (TCF-1) causes expansion of CD25- FOXP3+ noncanonical regulatory T cells. They also determined that TCF-1-deficient T cells induce increased production of CD25- regulatory T cells from wild-type cells. The findings may help increase the yield of these cells for use in the clinic.
An NBF grant is a career milestone for many investigators beginning their careers in the field and often validates their research scope as their career trajectory is just taking shape. This funding inspires innovation in the field for years to come.
Make your donation today! Future medical breakthroughs improving patient and donor care depend on it.
