Founded in 2015, we are investigating the link between human fetal haematopoiesis and the origin and biology of childhood leukaemia. In particular, we are interested in the pathogenesis of infant leukaemia, which is a refractory disease that invariably originates in utero.
The focus of research in the Childhood Leukaemia group is to study prenatal B lymphopoiesis in order to understand the origins of childhood leukaemia (Jackson, Ling and Roy 2021), in particular poor prognosis subtypes such as infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Infant ALL invariably originates before birth and KMT2A gene rearrangement is often sufficient to cause leukaemic transformation without additional genetic abnormalities (Rice and Roy, 2020). In order to understand the origins of infant ALL we have characterised prenatal human B cell hierarchy for the first time (O'Byrne et al, 2019), thereby identifying specific ontogeny related developmental programmes (Ling, Cross et al 2024) and a possible fetal specific target cell for infant ALL. Through several collaborative projects, we use functional and molecular single cell approaches to understand human haematopoiesis (Popescu et al, 2019; Hua et al, 2019, Roy, Wang et al 2021, Jardine, Webb et al 2021) These data are crucial in understanding how changes in B lymphopoiesis through the human lifetime influence the biology of leukaemias that originate at different ages. We now want to characterise prenatal progenitors to determine whether they may be a substrate for leukaemia initiating hits in infant ALL. To do this we have developed novel leukaemia models by transforming human progenitor cells using CRISPR-Cas9 mediated chromosomal translocations (Rice et al, 2021) in collaboration with the Milne lab. This approach has allowed us to identify pathways that can be targeted for future therapies in infant ALL (Godfrey, Crump et al, 2020; Smith et al 2025; Cross et al 2025). The findings from these studies have enabled the development of novel immunotherapy for high-risk childhood ALL (Ren, Elliott et al, 2025). We also aim to create a low-cost model of care for infant ALL in resource-poor settings, and have started collaboration with centres in India in order to deliver this.
We work closely with Prof Irene Roberts investigating how trisomy 21 perturbs haematopoiesis before birth and its implications for Down syndrome associated leukaemias in children, in particular DS-ALL.
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Our team
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Anindita Roy
Professor of Paediatric Haematology
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Natalina Elliott
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Thomas Jackson
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
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Emily Neil
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Lucy Hamer
DPhil Student
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Ananya Mahadevan
DPhil Student
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Sarah Inglott
Senior Scientist - Study of Acute Infant leukaemia (SAIL Project)
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Anna Prazmo
DPhil Student
Key publications
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A human fetal liver-derived infant MLL-AF4 acute lymphoblastic leukemia model reveals a distinct fetal gene expression program.
Rice S. et al, (2021), Nat Commun, 12
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PROM1/CD133 MARKS A PROLIFERATIVE STEM CELL LIKE POPULATION OF BLASTS IN KMT2A REARRANGED INFANT ALL.
Cross JW. et al, (2025), Blood Adv
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Enhancer heterogeneity in acute lymphoblastic leukemia drives differential gene expression in patients.
Smith A. et al, (2025), Blood
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Transitions in lineage specification and gene regulatory networks in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells over human development.
Roy A. et al, (2021), Cell Rep, 36
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Discovery of a CD10-negative B-progenitor in human fetal life identifies unique ontogeny-related developmental programs.
O'Byrne S. et al, (2019), Blood, 134, 1059 - 1071
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Blood and immune development in human fetal bone marrow and Down syndrome.
Jardine L. et al, (2021), Nature, 598, 327 - 331
Latest news
September 2025
Our lab has co-led the development of a new type of immunotherapy that could improve outcomes for infants and children with high-risk leukaemia
September 2025
The Kaiya Foundation has awarded one of its first major research grants to our lab, to fund pioneering research into the fundamental cause of a high-risk leukaemia.
February 2025
Welcome to Dr Ana Casado Garcia who has joined our lab with an EMBO visiting fellowship.
Oct 2024
Welcome to Alia Welsh and Anna Prazmo who have joined the lab this month as our new DPhil students.
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Collaborators
Prof Irene Roberts, Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford
Prof Thomas Milne, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
Prof Adam Mead, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
Prof Bethan Psaila, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
Prof Tassos Karadimitris, Centre for Haematology, Imperial College London
Prof Karen Keeshan, University of Glasgow
Prof Chris Halsey, University of Glasgow
Prof V Saha, Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata, India
Dr Philip Ancliff, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Dr Jack Bartram, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Prof Adam de Smith, UCSF, San Francisco, USA
Prof Logan Spector, UMN, USA
Dr Stefan Muljo, NIH, USA
Lab Alumni
Dr Rebecca Ling (DPhil)--> Clinical Haematology training
Nawara Ahsan (RA)--> MSCA Doctoral Network PhD studentship, Kiel University, Germany
Dr Joe Cross (postdoc)--> Academic Clinical Fellow in Haematology, Oxford
Caitlin Murnane (DPhil)--> Graduate entry Medicine course, University of Oxford
Dr Marcela B Mansur (Leukaemia UK John Goldman Fellow)--> Senior postdoctoral fellow, ICR London
Dr Lucy Field (postdoc)--> Research Scientist at Adaptimmune Therapeutics, Oxford, UK
Siobhan Rice (DPhil)--> Postdoctoral researcher at Dana Farber, Harvard. USA
Sorcha O'Byrne (DPhil)--> Research Scientist at BD, Ireland
Dr Gemma Buck (postdoc)--> Data manager, Oxford Centre for Global Health Research
Ella Mae Labbett (Undergrad)
Hannah Fuchs (Undergrad)
Rebecca Howitt (Undergrad)
Patricia Lein (Undergrad)
Freya Peers (Undergrad)
Sahani de Silva (Undergrad)
Pardiss Mehrzad (Undergrad)