Elvin Wagenblast, PhD

Dr. Elvin Wagenblast is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Oncological Sciences and Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is a member of the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, the Tisch Cancer Institute, and the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute. His research program focuses on using human primary blood stem cells and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome engineering to model preleukemic and leukemic phases of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia.

The central question of Dr. Wagenblast’s laboratory is to understand how a normal blood stem cell can become cancerous. In leukemia, the initiating genetic mutations occur as early as during fetal development. Dr. Wagenblast’s team applies CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technologies in human primary blood stem cells to model the preleukemic and leukemic phases of acute myeloid and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in vivo. By combining human patient material and state-of-the-art genome editing approaches, he aims to uncover insights into the genetic, cellular and developmental mechanisms of leukemia, with a particular focus on childhood leukemia. These strategies allow us to uncover novel disease mechanisms and identify therapeutic vulnerabilities of the disease.