Dr. Karantanos is an Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins University, division of Hematologic Malignancies and a Leukemia expert at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a laboratory-based physician scientist with focus on the molecular biology of JAK2/STAT signaling and inflammatory pathways in leukemias with erythroid differentiation and leukemias arising from antecedent myeloproliferative neoplasms.

He graduated from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Athens, Greece and received a Ph.D. in cancer biology. As a post-doctoral research fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center/University of Texas, he studied signal transduction in cancer and developed expertise in mouse modeling and targeted therapies. He completed his internal medicine residency and Chief residency training at Boston University and his medical oncology fellowship training at Johns Hopkins. His clinical research focused on sex-related differences in the genomic profile and outcomes of MPN and MDS/MPN patients. As a research fellow he studied malignant hematopoiesis and his work led to the identification of CCRL2, as an inducer of MDS/secondary AML cells growth via JAK2/STAT signaling and a mediator of azacitidine resistance.

email: tkarant1@jhmi.edu

Nour joined the lab as a postdoctoral research fellow in September 2023. In June 2023,she graduated with a B.S. in Biology and an M.D. from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Her major area of research interest focuses on the biology of rare and lethal leukemic malignancies and their mechanisms of treatment resistance. Specifically, she currently works on the role of C-C chemokine receptor-like 2 (CCRL2), an atypical chemokine receptor involved in cell migration and inflammation activation, in the growth and drug resistance of erythroleukemic cells. Outside of medicine and research work, she enjoys catching up with friends, hiking in nature and exploring different states around the U.S.

Education:

• B.S. in Biology, American University of Beirut, 2019
• M.D., American University of Beirut, Doctor of Medicine, 2023

Theodora is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Patras, where she also obtained her medical degree in 2017. Her passion for hematology was ignited during her medical school years and was established through a 3-month clinical attachment at St. James’s University Hospital in Leeds, UK. After graduation, she worked as a clinical trials sub-investigator in the Hematology Department, University Hospital of Patras, and she was chosen to participate in the 4-month Postgraduate Internship Program (“Andreas Vgenopoulos” Scholarship) at Hygeia Hospital in Athens. Upon returning to Patras to start her residency, she also started her Ph.D. research focusing on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) biology. Her studies focus on understanding epigenetic changes in MDS during hypomethylating agent (HMA) treatment and investigating prognostic tools for treatment response. After receiving a 6-month research scholarship both through the Greek State of Scholarships Foundation (IKY) and the Fulbright Foundation, she joined our lab. She currently studies mechanisms of resistance to DNA methyltransferase inhibitors in erythroid leukemias.

Education:

• Ph.D. Candidate, University of Patras, 2020-now
• M.D. University of Patras, 2017

Brandy Perkins is lab manager and staff scientist. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of flow cytometry. Her research includes identifying stem cells in AML, CLL, MM, and Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Education:

• B.S. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• M.S. in Biological Oceanography from USC.