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"
Maria Amaya, MD, PhD
Clinical Fellow
I am a clinical fellow 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.
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.
Courtney Jones, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
My primary interest is to understand the mechanisms that lead to disease recurrence in acute leukemia with the overall goal of preventing relapse. The goal of my current project is to identify metabolic vulnerabilities in leukemia stem cells that can be therapeutically targeted to prevent recurrent disease in AML. We are currently using global metabolomics analysis to identify metabolic dependencies in leukemia stem cells.
Mohammad Minhajuddin, PhD
Research Assistant 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.
Shanshan Pei, PhD
Research Assistant 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.
Jessica Ponder, PhD
Senior Professional Research Associate
My expertise is primarily focused on the development of novel small molecule therapeutics from natural product sources. My thesis project centered around characterizing the antileukemic mechanism of derivatives of parthenolide, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Tanacetum parthenium, commonly known as feverfew. Feverfew has been used for millennia as an anti-inflammatory medicine, but its mechanism has not been well understood until recent decades. Parthenolide is now known to selectively target leukemia cells through depletion of glutathione pools and inhibition of Nuclear Factor kappa B (Nf-kB) signaling.
Through a phenotypic screen comparing the cytotoxic efficacy of over 400 novel parthenolide derivatives in primary Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), we have identified a class of parthenolide derivatives with improved efficacy against AML and reduced off-target toxicity to HSCs. Surprisingly, these compounds are not effective at depleting glutathione or inhibiting Nf-kB signaling in AML, so we sought to elucidate their mechanism using unbiased characterization methods including chemoproteomic target identification and whole transcriptome shotgun
sequencing of drug-treated AML cells. Through this work we have found that these compounds target proteins that were previously considered undruggable. Current efforts in this project are centered on further characterizing the specific interactions of these compounds in key pathways in AML, as well as developing bioavailable prodrug formulations that can be utilized for in vivo studies.
Brett Stevens, PhD
Research Assistant 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.
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.
Haobin Ye, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
My research focused on the interaction between leukemia cells and their microenvironment, especially the ones created by the adipose tissue.
I am interested in how the microenvironment provided by the adipose tissue affects the metabolism and survival of leukemia cells and how leukemia cells change the biological behavior of the adipose tissue.
Hematology (SOM)
CU Anschutz
Research Complex II
12700 East 19th Avenue
9122
Aurora, CO 80045