Student receives grant to present research on acute myeloid leukemia
Carolina Pereira, studying in the Doctoral Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCBiology) at the University of Porto, and who is developing research at i3S, was awarded a travel grant by the scientific journal “Disease Models and Mechanisms” to participate in the workshop “The Hematological Tumor Microenvironment and its Therapeutic Targeting”, of the European School of Haematology, which will be held in London from the 16th to the 18th of February.
Under the coordination of Delfim Duarte, leader of the group “Hematopoiesis and Microenvironments” of i3S and hematologist at IPO-Porto, Carolina Pereira will present a poster on the work she is developing on the interactions between malignant cells of acute myeloid leukemia and the healthy supporting cells in the bone marrow.
“We know that leukemia cells can alter the environment of the bone marrow where they are found to ensure their own survival and proliferation. Therefore, it is important to understand in detail how these cellular transformation processes occur, so we can use them as possible therapeutic targets”, explains the doctoral student.
“Our group has identified a cell adhesion molecule that allows leukemia cells to be anchored to their protective niche. Using preclinical animal models of acute myeloid leukemia, we were able to observe the effect of inhibitors of this adhesion molecule, in combination with classical chemotherapy regimens used in the clinic, and we observed a reduction in leukemia infiltration. For now, we are still dissecting the mechanism that regulates this effect”.
Carolina Pereira explains that attending this European School of Haematology workshop will “allow me to share this work with top scientists in our research field. It will be an excellent opportunity to receive feedback on our work and, most importantly, to acquire new knowledge that I can apply to this project”. She added that it represents “a recognition of our research and also of the importance of sharing it with other renowned researchers in the same field”.