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