Walz Laboratory

Research Highlights

UTILIZATION OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD EXOSOMES TO DETECT GENETIC AND PROTEIN MARKERS IN PEDIATRIC SOLID TUMOR PATIENTS

Funded through the Department of Health and Human Services R21 Grant, PAR-16-277

This project seeks to develop reliable and reproducible methods for the isolation and analysis of exosomes from the peripheral blood of pediatric patients with solid tumor containing known fusion transcripts. Exosomes will be isolated from peripheral blood samples and purified to obtain a population of tumor-specific exosomes. These tumor-specific exosomes will then be analyzed for the known fusion transcript identified in the primary tumor sample.

DEVELOPMENT OF LIQUID BIOPSY ASSAYS FOR WILMS TUMOR

Funded thorough the Children’s Oncology Group Solid Malignancy Integrated Translational Science Center Pilot Grant

This project seeks to develop reliable and reproducible methods for the isolation of exosomes from the peripheral blood of pediatric patients with solid tumor containing known fusion transcripts. Exosomes will be isolated from peripheral blood samples and purified to obtain a population of tumor-specific exosomes. These tumor-specific exosomes will then be analyzed for the known fusion transcript identified in the primary tumor sample.

Principal Investigator

Amy L. Walz, MD

Dr. Walz's research interests involve the study of pediatric high-risk renal tumors and their underlying genetic drivers. As a member of the Children's Oncology Group's Renal Tumor Committee and the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Consortium Disease Committee, she participates in the development of new therapeutic clinical trials, including early phase clinical trials, for renal tumor patients. She serves as the Developmental Therapeutics lead for the Renal Tumor Committee. In addition, Dr. Walz has also worked on the analysis of circulating exosomes from pediatric solid tumor patients as biomarkers for use in diagnosis, monitoring of treatment response, and early detection of relapse.