Anna Nam, M.D.

Research

The Nam lab focuses on factors that influence the relationship between genotype and phenotype in blood cancers. Blood cancers are caused by genetic mutations, and the same mutations can lead to different phenotypes and patient outcomes. I will investigate the elements that underlie the phenotypic differences between Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which are not understood. I found that some HL cells feature unique characteristics, including elevated inflammatory signaling and neural reprogramming, associated with changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Now, I will investigate these characteristics and their effects on cell function using new single-cell multi-omics methods that simultaneously measure genetic and nongenetic contributors to the diversification of HL cells. I will determine how changes in cell characteristics are regulated at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels, identify interactions between lymphoma cells and the TME that promote cancer fitness, and decipher the functional consequences of these changes in lymphoma via mechanistic studies. These studies may lead to novel therapeutic approaches for HL.