Jordan Lab | Our Members
Craig Jordan, PhD
Chief, Division of Hematology
Professor
Dr. Jordan has participated in numerous NIH/NCI grant review panels, and has published over 125 peer-reviewed original research articles, review articles and book chapters. His 2018 study, "Subversion of Systemic Glucose Metabolism as a Mechanism to Support the Growth of Leukemia Cells" was named as one of the "Best of Cancer Cell 2018"
Mark "Jordan" Althoff, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
My current research interests are focused on characterizing the biology of leukemia stem cells (LSC) to better understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying disease relapse and chemo-resistance in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Previous work from the lab highlights specific metabolic dependencies found exclusively within LSC that can be exploited therapeutically. Cellular metabolism is intimately linked to mitochondrial morphology, and more recent evidence from the lab suggests that LSC function is distinctly reliant upon Fis1 mediated mitochondrial fragmentation and subsequent mitophagy. As a result, I aim to investigate the mechanisms controlling mitochondrial fission and fusion dynamics in LSC to identify the unique contributions that mitochondrial morphology may have on AML pathology.
Maria Amaya, MD, PhD
Instructor
I am an instructor conducting basic science research in our laboratory. My research is focused on investigating new ways to target leukemic stem cells in order to improve outcomes in AML. In particular, I am investigating proteins that affect mitochondrial function and oxidative phosphorylation, as leukemic stem cells rely heavily on this for survival.
Krysta Engel, PhD
Assistant Research Professor
Hi! I am a classic molecular biologist turned computational biologist. I’ve studied the central dogma from yeast to humans, from enzyme kinetics at the bench to functional genomics at my desk, from DNA to protein. However, my passion is all things RNA. With the Jordan lab, I help to coordinate and apply high level analyses to single cell gene and protein expression data to understand the complexities of AML disease progression and drug resistance. We are at the cutting edge of AML biology, where there is a vast potential for advances in disease treatment, understanding molecular biology, and developing advanced analysis techniques.
Austin Gillen, PhD
Assistant Research Professor
Anagha Inguva, BA
MD/PhD Student
My research is focused on understanding the biology of leukemia stem cells, the root cause of relapse and chemo-resistance in AML. Previous work in the lab suggests leukemia stem cells have unique metabolic properties that can be exploited in the clinic. I am interested in studying the intersection of canonical signaling pathways such as apoptosis and mitochondrial dynamics with metabolism in AML patient samples. As an MD/PhD student, I hope to leverage my clinical experience in heme/onc to more effectively bridge the gap between the clinic and the laboratory bench.
Regan Miller, BS, MS
Research Assistant, PhD Student
My current research interests are focused on understanding how leukemic stem cells (LSCs) evade therapy. Our lab has previously shown that differences in energy metabolism can drive drug resistance. These processes can be uniquely influenced by the surrounding microenvironment, so my goal is to further delineate the relationship between the microenvironment and energy metabolism in LSCs so we can identify more effective treatment strategies for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Mohammad Minhajuddin, PhD
Associate Research Professor
The main focus of my work is the identification and characterization of molecular pathways that control the survival of human leukemia stem cells. Drawing on many years of experience as a molecular biologist, I have developed methods to target pathways in primary human Leukemia Stem Cell (LSC) populations.
Of particular interest are mechanisms controlling energy metabolism and oxidative states, as these key properties are central to the biology of both normal and malignant hematopoietic stem cells. Recent data indicate that LSCs uniquely regulate energy metabolism and that therapeutic strategies may be evolved to target such properties.
Sweta Patel, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Sweta received her Bachelors in Pharmacy and Masters in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from India. During her Masters, Sweta showed that silver nanoparticle from pomegranate peel extract had cytotoxic effect on cervical cancer cells. After graduating with a Masters in 2016, Sweta moved to the US to pursue a PhD in Dr. Rob Welner’s Lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During her PhD, she worked on identifying the metabolic and transcriptional role of STAT3 mediating drug persistence in chronic myeloid leukemia stem cells. In 2021, Sweta joined as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Craig Jordan's and Dr. Eric Pietras' labs and will be focusing on identifying metabolic targets to inhibit the progression from clonal hematopoiesis to acute myeloid leukemia. Sweta plans to stay in academia as a researcher upon completion of her postdoctoral training.
Outside of the lab, Sweta enjoys water-related activities, hiking, volunteering at dog shelters, learning new things and celebrating Indian festivals.
Shanshan Pei, PhD
Adjunct Professor
I am fascinated by the potential of precision medicine in cancer, particularly for leukemia. Decades of work in the field have extended our understanding of leukemia biology with regard to genetics, epigenetics, and metabolism, and we now have many pieces to the puzzle. Our ability to uncover more pieces is further enabled by a recent outburst of powerful omics techniques and data analysis tools. Thus, we now have a unique opportunity to comprehensively dissect both intra- and inter- AML patient heterogeneity. We can then connect these data to their individual therapeutic response in the clinic. This intersection of research, clinic, and data science is an exciting space for precision drug discovery in AML.
In this context, I am particularly interested in utilizing multi-omic approaches at both population and single-cell levels to pinpoint key biological differences between therapy responders and non-responders in current clinical trials. I am also interested in using drug/genetic screens in ex vivo and in vivo settings to identify novel therapies that can target mechanisms of resistance in non-responders. Finally, in line with my overall fascination of precision medicine, I am interested in working with physicians, bench scientists and data scientists to build databases and analysis pipelines for implementing data-driven precision medicine in the near future.
Ian Shelton, BS
Research Assistant, PhD Student
My current work is focused on characterizing the heterogeneity of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Specifically, my interest is to dissect intra-patient AML heterogeneity, which is the main driver of therapeutic relapse. Through deeper understanding of LSC heterogeneity at the genetic, epigenetic, metabolic and developmental levels, we can lay the groundwork for precision medicine designed to eliminate relapse responses in AML patients with evident LSC heterogeneity.
In addition to bench-based functional studies, I’m also interested in leveraging multi-omic and single cell bioinformatic techniques to address disease heterogeneity. Combining powerful bioinformatic approaches with in vitro and in vivo functional studies on the bench will provide unprecedented resolution of the biological mechanisms driving leukemogenesis in patients and therapeutic resistance in the clinic.
Sarah Staggs, PhD
Assistant Research Professor
Brett Stevens, PhD
Assistant Research Professor
My research explores energy metabolism of leukemia stem cells as an attractive candidate for the development of therapies. This work includes multiple genetic and pharmacologic approaches to target these cells.
Specifically, my current focus is on the pre-clinical development and progression of BCL-2 inhibiting agents and understanding of biochemical pathways involved in metabolism in both Acute Myelogenous Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
Hunter Tolison, BS
Professional Research Assistant (E)
I am a recent college graduate (CU Denver 2020) with plans to earn an M.D. and Ph.D. to treat and research hematological malignancies. I have been a member of the Division of Hematology since May 2018 and started working with the Jordan lab in January 2021.
My work in the Jordan lab includes managing day-to-day operations, assisting in the research of other lab members, and investigating my own research interests. I am fascinated by the unique properties of Leukemia Stem Cells and their fundamentally distinct metabolic properties. In my work, I aim to contribute to the understanding of drug resistance in AML and to study individual mechanisms of drug resistance that we may exploit.
Amanda Winters, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
I am a Pediatric Oncologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado and am junior faculty in the Jordan lab. My project involves the characterization of chemo-resistant cell populations in acute myeloid leukemias (AML), with the ultimate goal of identifying effective targeted therapies for residual disease. An additional goal of my research is to develop more sensitive and specific assays for the detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with no clinically apparent disease.
Currently, I am working with adult and pediatric primary AML samples, which I am analyzing with mass cytometry and with targeted sequencing of a panel of AML-associated genes. Mass cytometry allows us to look at >20 cell surface markers and intracellular phosphorylated signaling proteins simultaneously, which in turn allows us to identify individual subpopulations within an AML sample and track their relative abundances during initial chemotherapy. We can then isolate the subpopulations which are most resistant to standard chemotherapies and can study their genetic mutational profiles and sensitivities to targeted drug therapies. We can also use the genotypic information to identify candidate mutations for MRD monitoring via droplet digital PCR, with the goal of detecting molecular evidence of disease at earlier timepoints prior to clinical relapse.
Hematology (SOM)
CU Anschutz
Research Complex II
12700 East 19th Avenue
9122
Aurora, CO 80045
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