DOT1L

The Armstrong Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute studies how developmental gene expression programs are regulated during normal and cancer development, focusing on leukemia. We are interested in determining how chromatin-based mechanisms control gene expression and cell-fate decisions, and how this goes awry to drive cancer-causing gene expression. The lab uses biochemical, genomic and epigenomic approaches to characterize genetically engineered mouse models and human leukemias to assess the role of specifc genes and pathways in normal and malignant proliferation, survival and self-renewal. This information is used to guide our collaborations with biotech, pharma, and academic labs to develop new therapeutic approaches. The lab’s recent work on DOT1L and Menin as therapeutic targets in MLL-rearranged leukemias has led to the development of clinical trials assessing inhibitors of these targets in patients with hematologic malignancies.