Research Activities

The HOT Division is heavily engaged in funded laboratory and clinical research. Research is supported by the NIH and other peer-reviewed national organizations, by non-profit organizations such as the Masonic Cancer Research Fund, Inc., the Komen Foundation, the Children s Cancer Research Fund, and by a variety of other philanthropies and generous individual donations.

University-based faculty conduct 55 sponsored research projects with total annual direct funding of approximately $5.4 million for University-based faculty and an additional $1 million for VAMC-based faculty.

Research interests include breast cancer biology (Lange, Yee), thoracic oncology (Kratzke), stem cell biology (Kaufman, Kikyo, McGlave, Verfaillie, Luikart, Jahagirdar), immunotherapy (Miller), biology of sickle cell anemia (Hebbel, Vercellotti), hemostasis and thrombosis (Reding, Slungaard, Johnson), tumor suppressor genes (Kratzke), clinical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (Burns, Weisdorf), hematologic malignancies (Howe, Peterson, P Gupta), innovative cancer therapy (Dudek, Greeno, Skubitz), infections in immunocompromised patients (Morrison), ethical conduct of clinical trials (Hammerschmidt), and medical education (Schorer).

Over the last several years HOT Division faculty have established and led several interdepartmental research programs including the Stem Cell Institute (founded by Dr. Catherine Verfaillie, currently led by Dr. Jonathan Slack), the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Program (Reding), the Vascular Biology Program (Hebbel), and the Breast Cancer Biology Program (Yee). These join the established Adult Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program (Weisdorf). HOT Division faculty (McGlave, Miller, Yee) also hold leadership positions in the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, a NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.