Bertil Johansson is Research Group Leader for this research group

Our aim is to increase our understanding of the leukemogenic process and to investigate the clinical impact of genetic/epigenetic abnormalities in pediatric acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemia (ALL and AML), focusing on: 1) Next generation sequencing (NGS) analyses of paired diagnostic and relapse samples to delineate the mutational road to relapse; 2) NGS analyses of isodisomies in ALL/AML to ascertain pathogenetically important gene mutations/imprinting abnormalities; 3) Genetic analyses of Down syndrome-related AML and ALL to identify clinically relevant changes, and 4) Genomic characterization of B-lineage ALL lacking characteristic genetic changes (“B-other”) to discover and characterize genetic aberrations that can be used to subclassify this heterogeneous group. Thus, our goals are to delineate novel subgroups, identify biomarkers of use for risk stratification and targeted therapy, and, ultimately, to improve the survival of children and adolescents with ALL and AML.