News
Collaborative Effort Expands Upon Study Linking Taurine to Cancer
Friday, January 23, 2026
In a groundbreaking basic science study last year, researchers discovered that taurine, available in energy drinks and as a supplement, feeds the growth of leukemia stem cells. A new study recently published by the same Wilmot Cancer Institute team expands that work and suggests that as taurine fuels leukemia, it becomes less available for other normal cells and may result in weaker bones in mice.
The bone marrow microenvironment is key to the latest research from the Bajaj lab, and has been a longtime focus of scientists who are members of Wilmot’s Cancer Microenvironment (CM) research program. Not only do many types of cancer, including leukemia, develop in the bone marrow, but the interactions and signaling between all cells and tissues in the bone marrow environment are critical for normal bone and blood development, while also supporting cancer.
PhD candidate Christina M. Kaszuba, a student in the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering graduate program, led this project. She works exclusively in the Bajaj lab studying cells and components of the bone that contribute to cancer development, with the goal of finding new cancer drugs.
Bajaj is an assistant professor of Biomedical Genetics and a recipient of an American Society of Hematology Scholar Award and Leukemia Research Foundation New Investigator Award.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NH) is the result of a broad collaboration that also includes Laura Calvi, MD, professor of Medicine and co-director of the CM research program; Jane Liesveld, MD, professor of Medicine; Hani Awad, PhD, professor of Orthopedics; Roman Eliseev, MD, PhD, associate professor of Orthopedics; and teams at the University of Rochester Center for Musculoskeletal Research and Wilmot Shared Resources.