Student Directory

Francis LeBlanc

Class Year: G3

 

Department/Institute/Center(s):

  • M.D./Ph.D. Program

 

Contact Information:

 

Biographical Information:

Hometown: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

 

Education:

Undergraduate Education:  BS/08 Chemistry & Physiology/U of W. Ontario

 

Research Interests:

Research Interest: drug discovery, leukemia and lymphoma and other blood disorders, sphingolipid signaling

Advisor: Thomas Loughran, MD
Graduate Program: Molecular Medicine

Thesis:

Description: LGL leukemia is a rare proliferative disorder with two classifications - CD3+T-LGL and CD3-/NK-LGL.  These patients typically present with various cytopenias leading to complications such as anemia and chronic infection associated with neutropenia.  In addition, there is an unusual association with a variety of autoimmune diseases.  My project focuses on the NK-LGL subtype and will investigate the sphingolipid rheostat and it's role in leukemia pathogenesis; specifically sphingosine-1-phosphat signaling through S1PR5 and it's role as a survival pathway.  This will hopefully uncover possible therapeutic targets as NK-LGL is currently an incurable disease, with death occurring in the acute form within a few months of diagnosis.

Meeting Presentations
  • 2012
    American Society of Hematology (ASH), Atlanta, GA

 

Publications:

Ding W, You H, Dang H, LeBlanc F, Galicia V, Lu SC, Stiles B, Rountree CB (2010) Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of murine liver tumor cells promotes invasion Hepatology 52(3):945-53

LeBlanc F, Zhang D, Liu X, Loughran Jr. TP (2012) LGL leukemia:  From dysregulated pathways to therapeutic targets Future Oncology 8(7):1-15

 

  

 

Francis LeBlanc

 

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