Babal Kant Jha, PhD

Developing a Targeted Therapy to Restore Healthy Blood‑Cell Production in Childhood Myeloid Leukemia

Childhood myeloid leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood that makes up about 20 percent of leukemia cases in children. In this disease, the bone marrow produces too many immature white blood cells that cannot function properly. These abnormal cells crowd out healthy blood cells, leading to serious health problems.

Many children with this type of leukemia have a specific genetic change in their cancer cells: they are missing all or part of chromosome 7, known as –7/del(7q). This genetic loss is common in several bone marrow disorders and is strongly linked to aggressive myeloid cancers. However, scientists still do not fully understand why losing this chromosome drives leukemia, and there are currently no treatments designed specifically for children with this genetic change.

Dr. Jha’s research aims to change that. His goal is to develop a targeted therapy that can restore healthy blood‑cell production and ultimately cure leukemia associated with –7/del(7q). His team’s approach is built on extensive studies of patient samples using advanced genetic sequencing and machine‑learning tools to identify promising treatment targets.

In this project, Dr. Jha, Daniel Vail, PhD, and the team will confirm the most promising target and generate early laboratory evidence needed to move toward a future clinical trial. Dr. Jha’s team will test the therapy in multiple ways — in cell cultures, in patient‑derived samples and in specialized preclinical models — to understand how it works and whether it can safely and effectively correct the underlying problem.

By uncovering how –7/del(7q) drives leukemia and developing a therapy tailored to this genetic change, their work aims to bring new hope to children facing this difficult disease.