MANHASSET, NY – Sarah Vaiselbuh, MD, a scientist at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, won this year’s St. Baldrick’s Foundation Scholar (CDA) Award that will help fund her study in acute myeloid leukemia. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a potentially deadly form of childhood leukemia and Dr. Vaiselbuh is determined to understand the leukemic microenvironment that allows these cells to flourish. Identifying suitable disease models will be critical to the development of new treatments.

A stem cell biologist, Dr. Vaiselbuh suspects that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) provide specific niches in the bone marrow that support survival of leukemic stem cells and protect them from drug-induced apoptosis through signaling via the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis. She is working with Feinstein colleagues to develop a laboratory model of AML that will help elucidate the mesenchymal leukemic niche. Genetically manipulated mesenchymal stem cells will be coated on a tridimensional scaffold and subcutaneously co-transplanted with human AML in immunocompromised laboratory models to create a fertile soil to study leukemic differentiation.

Leukemia is a disease that originates in the bone marrow (BM). Just like tropical plants blossom in the microclimate of a conservatory, leukemic cells require a specific bone marrow microenvironment (the leukemic niche) to take hold and grow. AML cells balance between quiescence and cell division in their niche to acquire drug resistance and escape antileukemic drugs. The wrong soil produces an erroneous harvest.

The proposed model should allow for the study of chemoresistance in childhood AML, by regulation of the passage of leukemic cells in and out of their niche (i.e. cell cycle) as a potential strategy for treatment of childhood myeloid leukemia.
As the recipient of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation Scholar Award, Dr. Vaiselbuh will receive $330,000 over three years.

About The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Headquartered in Manhasset, NY, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is home to international scientific leaders in cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, human genetics, neuroimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. Feinstein researchers are developing new drugs and drug targets, and producing results where science meets the patient, annually enrolling some 10,000 subjects into clinical research programs.

About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
St. Baldrick’s is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research.

Contact: Jamie Talan, science writer-in-residence
516-562-1232