Liran Shlush, MD, PhD

Liran Shlush, MD, PhD, of the Weizmann Institute of Science, who just received his first ICRF Project Grant, is studying acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a devastating disease, especially among the elderly. It is now known that most AML patients have a long latent period before diagnosis, during which pre-leukemic cells accumulate. Dr. Shlush has shown that specific mutations accumulate in pre-leukemic cells of otherwise healthy individuals. Access to the electronic health records of 3.2 million Israelis allowed him to develop algorithms for AML prediction based on routine clinical information. The goal of his research is to establish that these mutations can be used, not only to predict eventual tumor development, but also as targets for therapies that prevent and treat disease.

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