Major Research Interests

  • Normal Hematopoietic Stem Cells – the genes and processes controlling key properties of self-renewal
  • Acute Myeloid Leukemia – the genes and processes underlying transformation of normal blood cells to leukemic growth
  • Gene therapy by targeting hematopoietic stem cells with special emphasis on hemoglobinopathies (Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease)

Key Experimental Approaches

  • Genetic modification of normal and leukemic cells using lentiviral/retroviral gene transfer
  • Genetic modeling of leukemia using murine and human blood cells
  • Crispr/Cas9 gene editing to create new murine models to study key hematopoietic regulatory genes
  • Study of the role of key transcription factors (e.g. Hox, Hox co-factors such as Meis1, MN1) in normal and  leukemic hematopoiesis.

Please see Dr. Humphries's publication list for more details on research.  

Affiliations
  • Distinguished Scientist Emeritus, BC Cancer
  • Professor Emeritus, Hematology, University of British Columbia
Credentials

Training

  • BSc Honours Physics (U of Alberta)
  • MSc Biophysics (U of Toronto)
  • MD (UBC)
  • PhD Genetics Program (UBC)
  • Postdoctoral training  National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD

Current Appointments

  • Distinguished Scientist Emeritus, BC Cancer
  • Professor Emeritus, Hematology, UBC

Honors

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
  • Terry Fox Award British Columbia Medical Association
  • Killam Research Prize, UBC
  • Distinguished Emeritus Member, American Society of Hematology
  • Emeritus Member, International Society of Experimental Hematology
  • Board Member and  Chair Medical Scientific Committee, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada
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