Mark D. Fleming, M.D., D.Phil.

Research

My research is focused on determining how erythroid cells acquire and utilize iron. Researchers in my lab are pursuing two general approaches: 1) Postionally cloning and characterizing the genes underlying several mouse hereditary defects in erythroid iron metabolism. 2) Using targeted mutagenesis in the mouse to study proteins implicated in the pathogenesis in a group of bone marrow disorders known as sideroblastic anemias. In those disorders, erythroid precursors develop pathologic iron deposits in mitochondria, which play a unique role in metabolizing iron and heme. We are seeking to characterize proteins responsible for mitochondrial iron import and utilization.