As a physician-scientist, the clinical and scientific goals of Dr. Kurre's work are directed at improving understanding and broadening treatment options for patients with bone marrow failure.

Dr. Kurre's clinical interests focus on the diagnosis and treatment of bone marrow failure and specifically on improving diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities. Advances in genomic technologies provide exciting opportunities to streamline the frequently extended diagnostic work up of children with bone marrow failure. He and colleagues at other institutions are spearheading efforts to leverage molecular technologies toward the development of tests that improve diagnostic certainty and timeliness of genetic bone marrow failure. They are also developing clinical trials to enhance treatment and post treatment surveillance options.

Dr. Kurre's laboratory has longstanding expertise in Fanconi Anemia (FA), a rare inherited genetic condition with prominent hematologic complications, and he hopes to improve the understanding of the progressive hematopoietic failure that occurs in patients with FA. In addition to preclinical vector development for stem cell gene therapy, his more recent studies aim to reveal the origins of bone marrow failure in FA before birth. Studies in murine models of FA indicate that a significant portion of hematopoietic stem cells are lost prenatally and during infancy. Dr. Kurre's lab is developing strategies that will ameliorate those losses, with the long term goal of reversing the successive erosion of the stem cell pool in children. Additional projects in the lab are focused on stem cell regulation by trafficking of extracellular vesicles in the bone marrow microenvironment.

Notable career accomplishments to date include:

• Definitive demonstration that hematopoietic deficits in FA arise during development
• The first description of the role of vesicle trafficking in the development of cytopenias in acute myeloid leukemia
• The development of preclinical protocols that minimize stem cell losses during lentivector transduction of FA hematopoietic stem cells

MD - RWTH Aachen University, Germany, 1991

Director, Comprehensive Bone Marrow Failure Center

Buck Family Endowed Chair in Hematology

Professor of Pediatrics

American Society of Hematology, 2001-

American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, 2003-

Society for Pediatric Research, 2006-

International Society for Extracellular Vesicles, 2011-

North American Pediatric Aplastic Anemia Consortium, 2013-

Hyundai Scholar, Hyundai "Hope on Wheels" Foundation 2012, 2014-2017, 2018

Cycling

Photography

Comprehensive Bone Marrow Failure Center Profile