Serine Avagyan, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Pediatrics
School of Medicine

A central theme across our work is clonal hematopoiesis (CH), the pre-malignant expansion of mutant blood stem cells that precedes transformation to overt malignancy. We investigate the origins and drivers of CH across distinct contexts: in patients with germline predisposition syndromes, in donor cells transmitted through stem cell transplantation, and in neonates who carry pre-leukemic fusion genes in utero. By identifying the factors that promote clonal expansion and malignant transformation, our goal is to better predict, prevent, and intervene in blood cancers before they fully develop.

• Hematopoietic stem cell division is governed by distinct RUNX1 binding partners.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2024 Robertson AL, Yue L, Choudhuri A, Kubaczka C, Wattrus SJ, Mandelbaum J, Avagyan S, Yang S, Freeman RJ, Chan V, Blair MC, Daley GQ, Zon LI
• Editorial: Biological aspects of bone marrow failure.
  Frontiers in oncology 2023 Diamantopoulos P, Avagyan S, Solomou E
• Microenvironmental control of hematopoietic stem cell fate via CXCL8 and protein kinase C.
  Cell reports 2023 Binder V, Li W, Faisal M, Oyman K, Calkins DL, Shaffer J, Teets EM, Sher S, Magnotte A, Belardo A, Deruelle W, Gregory TC, Orwick S, Hagedorn EJ, Perlin JR, Avagyan S, Lichtig A, Barrett F, Ammerman M…
• Clonal hematopoiesis and inflammation - the perpetual cycle.
  Trends in cell biology 2022 Avagyan S, Zon LI
• Lessons From Pediatric MDS: Approaches to Germline Predisposition to Hematologic Malignancies.
  Frontiers in oncology 2022 Avagyan S, Shimamura A
• Resistance to inflammation underlies enhanced fitness in clonal hematopoiesis.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2021 Avagyan S, Henninger JE, Mannherz WP, Mistry M, Yoon J, Yang S, Weber MC, Moore JL, Zon LI
• To T or not to B: germline RUNX1 mutation preferences in pediatric ALL predisposition.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 2021 Avagyan S, Brown AL
• B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients with germline RUNX1 mutations.
  Blood advances 2021 Six KA, Gerdemann U, Brown AL, Place AE, Cantor AB, Kutny MA, Avagyan S
• Single-cell ATAC-seq reveals GATA2-dependent priming defect in myeloid and a maturation bottleneck in lymphoid lineages.
  Blood advances 2021 Avagyan S, Weber MC, Ma S, Prasad M, Mannherz WP, Yang S, Buenrostro JD, Zon LI
• Comparison of Outcomes of Myeloablative Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Pediatric Patients with Bone Marrow Failure, Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia with and without Germline GATA2 Mutations.
  Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation 2020 Hofmann I, Avagyan S, Stetson A, Guo D, Al-Sayegh H, London WB, Lehmann L
• Efficient Transduction of Zebrafish Melanoma Cell Lines and Embryos Using Lentiviral Vectors.
  Zebrafish 2017 Fazio M, Avagyan S, van Rooijen E, Mannherz W, Kaufman CK, Lobbardi R, Langenau DM, Zon LI
• Understanding the regulation of vertebrate hematopoiesis and blood disorders - big lessons from a small fish.
  FEBS letters 2016 Robertson AL, Avagyan S, Gansner JM, Zon LI
• Stress from Nucleotide Depletion Activates the Transcriptional Regulator HEXIM1 to Suppress Melanoma.
  Molecular cell 2016 Tan JL, Fogley RD, Flynn RA, Ablain J, Yang S, Saint-André V, Fan ZP, Do BT, Laga AC, Fujinaga K, Santoriello C, Greer CB, Kim YJ, Clohessy JG, Bothmer A, Pandell N, Avagyan S, Brogie JE, van Rooijen …
• Fish to Learn: Insights into Blood Development and Blood Disorders from Zebrafish Hematopoiesis.
  Human gene therapy 2016 Avagyan S, Zon LI
• Hematopoietic stem cell dysfunction underlies the progressive lymphocytopenia in XLF/Cernunnos deficiency.
  Blood 2014 Avagyan S, Churchill M, Yamamoto K, Crowe JL, Li C, Lee BJ, Zheng T, Mukherjee S, Zha S
• Propranolol as a first-line treatment for diffuse infantile hepatic hemangioendothelioma.
  Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition 2013 Avagyan S, Klein M, Kerkar N, Demattia A, Blei F, Lee S, Rosenberg HK, Arnon R
• Quantitative trait mapping reveals a regulatory axis involving peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, PRDM16, transforming growth factor-β2 and FLT3 in hematopoiesis.
  Blood 2011 Avagyan S, Aguilo F, Kamezaki K, Snoeck HW
• Prdm16 is a physiologic regulator of hematopoietic stem cells.
  Blood 2011 Aguilo F, Avagyan S, Labar A, Sevilla A, Lee DF, Kumar P, Lemischka IR, Zhou BY, Snoeck HW
• ATP-binding cassette transporters and HDL suppress hematopoietic stem cell proliferation.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2010 Yvan-Charvet L, Pagler T, Gautier EL, Avagyan S, Siry RL, Han S, Welch CL, Wang N, Randolph GJ, Snoeck HW, Tall AR
• A quantitative trait locus on chr.4 regulates thymic involution.
  The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 2010 Kumar R, Avagyan S, Snoeck HW
• Identification and in vivo analysis of murine hematopoietic stem cells.
  Methods in enzymology 2010 Avagyan S, Amrani YM, Snoeck HW
• A quantitative trait locus on chromosome 4 affects cycling of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells through regulation of TGF-beta 2 responsiveness.
  Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2008 Avagyan S, Glouchkova L, Choi J, Snoeck HW
• Test of Cairns-Smith's 'crystals-as-genes' hypothesis.
  Faraday discussions 2007 Bullard T, Freudenthal J, Avagyan S, Kahr B
• Immunokinetics of autoreactive CD4 T cells in blood: a reporter for the "hit-and-run" autoimmune attack on pancreas and diabetes progression.
  Journal of autoimmunity 2004 George SK, Preda I, Avagyan S, McEvoy RC, Rapaport R, Brumeanu TD, Casares S
• Selection footprint in the FimH adhesin shows pathoadaptive niche differentiation in Escherichia coli.
  Molecular biology and evolution 2004 Sokurenko EV, Feldgarden M, Trintchina E, Weissman SJ, Avagyan S, Chattopadhyay S, Johnson JR, Dykhuizen DE