Next Generation Diagnosis in Leukemia

Elena G. Sánchez, PhD, is a scientific researcher at the Advanced Therapies Unit of the Oncohematology service of the Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús (HIUNJ). She leads research projects related to paediatric leukaemia such as identification and functional analyses of germline and somatic mutations predisposing children in Spain to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, characterization of stromal factors from bone marrow microenvironment to trigger the leukaemogenesis and relapse, and generation of a murine model of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia relapse post-treatment. She is responsible for the Biobank of leukaemia collection samples at diagnosis, minimal residual disease and relapse. From 2020 she have led the validation of optical genome mapping (OGM) for the diagnosis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia as an alternative to conventional routine diagnostic methods in collaboration with the cytogenetic service of the hospital. ​