Liran Shlush

The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Liran I. Shlush M.D. Ph.D. is a Senior Scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Immunology and a visiting hematologist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Princess Margaret Cancer Center, and the hematology department Rambam healthcare campus Haifa Israel. His research and clinical activities are focused on the early stages of leukemia. Dr. Shlush and colleagues identified the human pre-leukemic stem cells and proved that a latent period in which stem cell acquire mutations exists. These preleukemic stem cells give rise to AML and other blood malignancies and can be identified years before diagnosis. Recently, his group was able to predict AML years before diagnosis by analyzing molecular signatures among healthy individuals. In this study specific mutations found among healthy individual predicted AML. Some of these mutations, specifically, in the spliceosome machinery can be targeted and we are now working on designing the clinical trials for AML prevention.