Wilmot Cancer Stem Cell Scientist Featured in NCI Bulletin

One of the cancer field’s most respected information sources, the National Cancer Institute Bulletin, recently featured the work of Craig Jordan, Ph.D., a cancer stem cell scientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

Jordan is among the world’s top cancer stem cell scientists, leading one of the nation’s few cancer stem cell research programs. His innovative, NCI-funded work in the area of leukemia stem cells is promising.

He is director of Wilmot’s Translational Research for Hematologic Malignancies and associate professor of Biomedical Genetics at the Medical Center. He is also a leader of its Cancer Stem Cell Research Program. Jordan leads research focused on myeloid leukemia stem cells, from which cancers derive and relapses evolve. Leukemia stem cells produce large numbers of blood tumor cells known as blast cells. Standard chemotherapy is not effective against leukemia stem cells, so his team is studying agents to effectively destroy the leukemia stem cells while sparing normal stem cells.

Most recently, his team has developed a compound that has been successful in destroying leukemia stem cells in laboratory models.  

He is expanding his research to include the of lymphoma stem cells through the NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence program based at Wilmot Cancer Center.