Yue Wei, PhD is currently an assistant professor of molecular biology in the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She has worked closely over the years with Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD and was the recipient of the Edward P. Evans Fellowship through the MDS Clinical Research Clinical Research: A type of research that involves individual persons or a group of people. There are three types of clinical research. Patient-oriented research includes clinical trials which test how a drug, medical device, or treatment approach works in people. Epidemiology or behavioral studies look at the… Consortium in 2013.
Her work as a molecular biologist interested in bone marrow failure bone marrow failure: A condition that occurs when the bone marrow stops making enough healthy blood cells. The most common of these rare diseases are aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Bone marrow failure can be acquired (begin any time in life) or can be… disease has led her to focus on myelodysplastic syndromes myelodysplastic syndromes: (my-eh-lo-diss-PLASS-tik SIN-dromez) A group of disorders where the bone marrow does not work well, and the bone marrow cells fail to make enough healthy blood cells. Myelo refers to the bone marrow. Dysplastic means abnormal growth or development. People with MDS have low blood cell count for at… (MDS) at the molecular level, and study the innate immune system and the role of deregulation in that system as a causative factor in disease. Dr. Wei has been interested in the identifying genetic markers for substances that influence hematopoietic differentiation, or variation in the development of types of blood cells. In recent work that compared bone marrow bone marrow: The soft, spongy tissue inside most bones. Blood cells are formed in the bone marrow. of MDS and non MDS patients, she and her colleagues identified markers linked to the signaling pathways involved in innate immunity, and then examined histone or protein expression in the genetic transcription. One particular protein named JMJD3 appeared to be overexpressed in MDS bone marrow as compared to normal samples. This finding suggests that suppression of the production of this protein might play a role in inhibiting development of MDS. Based on this indication, the team demonstrated that they could increase the number of erythroid or immature red blood cell red blood cell: The most numerous type of blood cell in healthy people. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a protein that picks up oxygen in the lungs and brings it to cells in all parts of the body. Also called erythrocyte, RBC. colonies in samples of bone marrow from low risk MDS patients, through suppression of JMJD3. The next step in this line of research, according to Dr. Wei, will be clinical trials clinical trials: Clinical research is at the heart of all medical advances, identifying new ways to prevent, detect or treat disease. If you have a bone marrow failure disease, you may want to consider taking part in a clinical trial, also called a research study. Understanding Clinical Trials Clinical… using specially developed antibodies to counter the production of JMJD3 in patients for which the more typical treatment of hypermethylating agents has not been successful.
Dr. Wei emphasized that the opportunity to be an Edward P. Evans Fellow allowed her work to progress and had a positive effect on her career, allowing her to recently advance from instructor to assistant professor. She particularly values the access to senior researchers that her fellowship allowed her, noting that at a recent conference the ideas she heard and discussed will be incorporated into her future work at MD Anderson. She and her colleagues hope to eventually be able to correlate the molecular indications with clinical results in future studies, leading to expanded treatment options for patients.