IGI receives CIRM Inception Award to study mechanisms in blood cancers

The IGI has been awarded a CIRM Inception Award to use gene editing in bone marrow stem cells in order to discover mechanisms that lead to certain types of blood cancers.  The CIRM Inception Awards provide seed funding to support the exploration of transformational ideas that hold the potential to greatly impact the field of human stem cell research.  The IGI will use genetic engineering to determine how mutations frequently observed in the bone marrow stem cells of patients lead to a family of diseases called meyloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).  The MPN disorders are characterized by over-production of certain blood cells, such as red blood cells or platelets, but it is unclear how patient mutations cause these disorders.  A better understanding of how MPN-associated mutations lead to disease could eventually lead to better therapies for patients suffering from MPN.