Leukemia is the most common childhood malignancy accounting for ~30% of paediatric cancers. Globally, there are 15000, 3000, and 60 new cases annually in China, USA, and Hong Kong, respectively. Continuous advances in risk-directed chemotherapy have driven childhood leukemia from one of the deadliest cancers in the 1960s to one of the most curable cancers nowadays. However, specific leukemia subtypes are still associated with poor outcomes, even with aggressive therapies such as stem cell transplantation. Further improvement in survival will critically rely on either refinement of the risk stratification system to better tailor existing drugs or develop new agents for high-risk cases.

Our team comprises of paediatric oncologists, hematologists and bioinformaticians with a clear vision to tackle the current unmet needs in childhood leukemia. The research programs span basic, translational and clinical hematology aiming to put forward laboratory discoveries into clinical applications. With a strong collaborative network around the globe, the team has led multiple multicenter clinical trials evaluating treatment interventions, including the Chinese Children’s Cancer Group (CCCG) studies with large patient cohorts. In the research laboratory, the team focuses on dissecting the mechanisms of leukemia pathogenesis and makes use of gained knowledge to develop new drugs.