Scientific Personnel

Brief Bio

Dr Ema Anastasiadou received her diploma from Athens University, Greece, on Biology. Her dissertation, a prerequisite for her degree, was focused on the analysis of the chromosomal protein HMG 17 in chronic myelogenic leukaemia. She continued her studies at University of Cambridge, Institute of Biotechnology in Dr. Jim Murray's laboratory where she obtained her Ph.D. During her graduate studies she was introduced in various molecular and cellular biology techniques but her primary focus was developing methodology for large scale manipulation of the mammalian genome and regulating the expression of specific genes. She also gained experience in stem cell technology and mouse genetics. She continued her research at Harvard Medical School, at Human Institute of Medicine, Department of Genetics, Division of Hematology/Oncology in the laboratory of Dr Gary Gilliland. Her research was sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute where as a postdoctoral fellow, she applied her expertise to generate mice with conditional expression of specific genes as models for hematopoietic malignancies. Since December 2002 she is a member of BRF where as a researcher (Lecturer Level) investigates genes and pathways that are involved in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis. Her main interest is the functional analysis of TEL and AML1 genes in hematopoietic development. TEL/AML1 is a chimeric product of a chromosomal translocation (12;21) (p12;q22) involving two transcription factors, TEL and AML1. It is the most common event in pediatric cancers; 25-30% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) shows this specific translocation and demonstrates a blockage during the pre-B cell stage in hematopoietic development. The goal of this laboratory is to study/analyze the pathways that TEL and AML1 are involved and uncover the mechanisms, through which TEL/AML1 alters their function. Our target is to determine the specific events that blocks normal hematopoietic differentiation and lead to leukemogenesis and define molecules as potential targets for therapeutic purposes.

Selected Publications

Lee BH, Williams IR, Anastasiadou E, Boulton CL, Joseph SW, Amaral SM, Curley DP, Duclos N, Huntly BJ, Fabbro D, Griffin JD, Gilliland DG. FLT3 internal tandem duplication mutations induce myeloproliferative or lymphoid disease in a transgenic mouse model. Oncogene. 2005 Aug 22; [Epub ahead of print]

Wang J, Iwasaki H, Krivtsov A, Febbo PG, Thorner AR, Ernst P, Anastasiadou E, Kutok JL, Kogan SC, Zinkel SS, Fisher JK, Hess JL, Golub TR, Armstrong SA, Akashi K, Korsmeyer SJ. (2005) Conditional MLL-CBP targets GMP and models therapy-related myeloproliferative disease. EMBO J. Jan 26;24(2):368-81.

Chen J, Williams IR, Kutok JL, Duclos N, Anastasiadou E, Masters SC, Fu H, Gilliland DG. (2004) Positive and negative regulatory roles of the WW-like domain in TEL-PDGFbetaR transformation. Blood. Jul 15;104(2):535-42.

Anastasiadou E, Schwaller J. (2003) Role of constitutively activated protein tyrosine kinases in malignant myeloproliferative disorders: an update. Curr Opin Hematol. Jan;10(1):40-8. Review.

Dash AB, Williams IR, Kutok JL, Tomasson MH, Anastasiadou E, Lindahl K, Li S, Van Etten RA, Borrow J, Housman D, Druker B, Gilliland DG. (2002) A murine model of CML blast crisis induced by cooperation between BCR/ABL and NUP98/HOXA9. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. May 28;99(11):7622-7.

Andreasson P, Schwaller J, Anastasiadou E, Aster J, Gilliland DG. (2001) The expression of ETV6/CBFA2 (TEL/AML1) is not sufficient for the transformation of hematopoietic cell lines in vitro or the induction of hematologic disease in vivo. Cancer Genet Cytogenet. Oct 15;130(2):93-104.

Schwaller J, Anastasiadou E, Cain D, Kutok J, Wojiski S, Williams IR, LaStarza R, Crescenzi B, Sternberg DW, Andreasson P, Schiavo R, Siena S, Mecucci C, Gilliland DG. (2001) H4(D10S170), a gene frequently rearranged in papillary thyroid carcinoma, is fused to the platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta gene in atypical chronic myeloid leukemia with t(5;10)(q33;q22). Blood. Jun 15;97(12):3910-8.

Schwaller J, Parganas E, Wang D, Cain D, Aster JC, Williams IR, Lee CK, Gerthner R, Kitamura T, Frantsve J, Anastasiadou E, Loh ML, Levy DE, Ihle JN, Gilliland DG. (2000) Stat5 is essential for the myelo- and lymphoproliferative disease induced by TEL/JAK2. Mol Cell. Sep;6(3):693-704.

Kondos H, Anastasiadou E, Photopoulou A, Cary P, Aleporou-Marinou V, Pataryas T. (1995) Elevated levels of the chromosomal protein HMG 17 in chronic myelogenic leukemia. Biochem Mol Biol Int. Jul;36(4):803-9.

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