Brandon Gheller, PH.D.

Research Overview

Aging is a major risk factor for the development of blood cancer, such as leukemia, due to an increase in the dominance of ineffective blood stem cells. Blood stem cells are necessary for hematopoiesis. (The process of creating all the cells that constitute the blood system.)

Over 6% of all individuals 60 years of age and older who are otherwise free of blood disorders have clonal hematopoiesis. Clonal hematopoiesis is the dominance of ineffective blood stem cells that results in an increased propensity for blood cancer development and poor outcomes once cancer develops. This can be detected from a minimally invasive blood draw; therefore, it presents a truly pre-cancerous state that is easily detectable and in adequate time for intervention. Because the timeline from clonal hematopoiesis detection to disease is unknown, traditional therapies that have side effects, especially when taken for long periods— such as drugs—are not feasible.

I propose the use of dietary interventions as a sustainable and effective cancer preventative strategy to prophylactically treat people with clonal hematopoiesis. Using the zebrafish model—which shares many of the biological features that define the human blood system and allows for high throughput screening of treatments in a whole-body context—I will test dietary interventions to evaluate their influence on slowing clonal hematopoiesis.

I will also combine genome editing techniques to model clonal hematopoiesis along with cutting edge genetic and color cellular barcoding approaches to track the dynamics of individual blood stem cells in response to dietary interventions in real time.

My “Why”

My training in human nutrition has always made a point of focusing on prevention in addition to supporting treatment. The recent identification of clonal hematopoiesis as a condition that can assign cancer development risk in otherwise healthy people provided me a promising avenue to apply my nutritional science background to cancer prevention.

Why Funding Matters

Funding gives me the financial freedom to focus on my cancer prevention research full time in a mentored setting. During this valuable time, I will develop into an independent cancer prevention scientist prepared to train the next generation.