Research Information
Research Interests
The focus of our research is to better understand the biology of plasma cells under physiologic and pathologic conditions as a means to improve human health. Plasma cells represent the terminally differentiated cell population of the B-lymphocyte lineage. Plasma cells possess unique biology, primarily as a result of their role as antibody factories. The unique features associated with the massive antibody production capacity confer upon the plasma cell a vulnerability to attack by specific targeted therapies. Over the past six years, we have worked to develop therapies that exploit the unique features of these cells through plasma cell-targeted therapies. Hence, we have used novel strategies to enhance plasma cell killing to improve MM patient outcomes. Together, our research focuses on three major areas:
- Mechanisms of drug resistance in hematologic malignancies
- Drug discovery of novel proteasome inhibitors
- Single-cell transcriptomic profiling of malignant plasma cells