Serine Avagyan, MD, PhD

The goal of the lab is to understand how development of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), their clonal composition and competition, and their progeny affect initiation of clonal blood disorders. Clonal blood disorders, including malignant diseases such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia, are states of significant disturbance of the balanced clonal output. Focusing on the pathogenesis of pediatric and young adult MDS which are often associated with germline predisposition conditions, our research seeks to identify pathways responsible for establishing early aberrant clonal states and promoting transformation to malignancy. By using techniques of cellular barcoding to gain insight about clone-specific biology in a zebrafish model and primary human cells, our goal is to identify top vulnerabilities in clonal disorders to augment disease-directed therapy and prevent relapse of disease after stem cell transplantation, or perhaps one day prevent the development of MDS in high-risk patients. Such therapies could potentially be broadly applicable in the field of leukemogenesis beyond germline predisposition syndromes.
Education
12/2022 - Instructor in Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Hospital Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology fellowship, 06/2017 - Pediatric hematology-oncology-stem cell transplantation, Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Hospital Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Pediatric internship and residency, 06/2014 - Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian at Columbia University Medical Center
MD, 2011 - , Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
PhD, 2009 - Hematopoietic stem cell biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Honors and Awards
  • Career Awards for Medical Scientists, Burrough Wellcome Foundation, 2023-2027
  • CRAZY8 award (co-PI), Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, 2021-2025
  • Early Career Investigator Award, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and RUNX1 Research Program, 2021-2024
  • Boston Combined Residency Program Faculty Teaching Honor Roll, Boston Children's Hospital, 2021
  • Abstract Achievement Award, American Society of Hematology, 2020
  • Rising Star Lecture Series Lecturer, National Institutes of Health, 2019
  • Young Investigator Award, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, 2017-2021
  • Young Investigator Award, EvansMDS, Edward P. Evans Foundation, 2017-2020
  • Pedals for Pediatrics Research Grant, Boston Children's Hospital, 2016-2018
  • Potter Fellowship, Boston Children's Hospital, 2015-2017
  • David Abraham Fellowship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 2015-2017
  • Farley Fund Fellowship Award, Boston Children's Hospital, 2014
  • Bela Schick Pediatric Society Prize, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai, 2011

  1. Baron CS, Mitchell O, Avagyan S, Menard R, Yang S, Robertson AL, Potluri R, Shendure J, Madelaine R, McKenna A, Zon LI. Leukemia-derived apelin selects endothelial niche clones to promote tumorigenesis. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2024. PMID: 39314385


  2. Robertson AL, Yue L, Choudhuri A, Kubaczka C, Wattrus SJ, Mandelbaum J, Avagyan S, Yang S, Freeman RJ, Chan V, Blair MC, Daley GQ, Zon LI. Hematopoietic stem cell division is governed by distinct RUNX1 binding partners. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2024. PMID: 38895208


  3. Diamantopoulos P, Avagyan S, Solomou E. Editorial: Biological aspects of bone marrow failure. Frontiers in oncology 2023. PMID: 37860191


  4. Binder V, Li W, Faisal M, Oyman K, Calkins DL, Shaffer J, Teets EM, Sher S, Magnotte A, Belardo A, Deruelle W, Gregory TC, Orwick S, Hagedorn EJ, Perlin JR, Avagyan S, Lichtig A, Barrett F, Ammerman M, Yang S, Zhou Y, Carson WE, Shive HR, Blachly JS, Lapalombella R, Zon LI, Blaser BW. Microenvironmental control of hematopoietic stem cell fate via CXCL8 and protein kinase C. Cell reports 2023. PMID: 37209097


  5. Avagyan S, Zon LI. Clonal hematopoiesis and inflammation - the perpetual cycle. Trends in cell biology 2022. PMID: 36593155


  6. Avagyan S, Shimamura A. Lessons From Pediatric MDS: Approaches to Germline Predisposition to Hematologic Malignancies. Frontiers in oncology 2022. PMID: 35356204


  7. Avagyan S, Henninger JE, Mannherz WP, Mistry M, Yoon J, Yang S, Weber MC, Moore JL, Zon LI. Resistance to inflammation underlies enhanced fitness in clonal hematopoiesis. Science (New York, N.Y.) 2021. PMID: 34735227


  8. Avagyan S, Brown AL. To T or not to B: germline RUNX1 mutation preferences in pediatric ALL predisposition. The Journal of clinical investigation 2021. PMID: 34623329


  9. Six KA, Gerdemann U, Brown AL, Place AE, Cantor AB, Kutny MA, Avagyan S. B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients with germline RUNX1 mutations. Blood advances 2021. PMID: 34424323


  10. Avagyan S, Weber MC, Ma S, Prasad M, Mannherz WP, Yang S, Buenrostro JD, Zon LI. Single-cell ATAC-seq reveals GATA2-dependent priming defect in myeloid and a maturation bottleneck in lymphoid lineages. Blood advances 2021. PMID: 34170284


  11. Hofmann I, Avagyan S, Stetson A, Guo D, Al-Sayegh H, London WB, Lehmann L. Comparison of Outcomes of Myeloablative Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Pediatric Patients with Bone Marrow Failure, Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia with and without Germline GATA2 Mutations. Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation 2020. PMID: 32088370


  12. Fazio M, Avagyan S, van Rooijen E, Mannherz W, Kaufman CK, Lobbardi R, Langenau DM, Zon LI. Efficient Transduction of Zebrafish Melanoma Cell Lines and Embryos Using Lentiviral Vectors. Zebrafish 2017. PMID: 28557653


  13. Robertson AL, Avagyan S, Gansner JM, Zon LI. Understanding the regulation of vertebrate hematopoiesis and blood disorders - big lessons from a small fish. FEBS letters 2016. PMID: 27616157


  14. Tan JL, Fogley RD, Flynn RA, Ablain J, Yang S, Saint-Andr? V, Fan ZP, Do BT, Laga AC, Fujinaga K, Santoriello C, Greer CB, Kim YJ, Clohessy JG, Bothmer A, Pandell N, Avagyan S, Brogie JE, van Rooijen E, Hagedorn EJ, Shyh-Chang N, White RM, Price DH, Pandolfi PP, Peterlin BM, Zhou Y, Kim TH, Asara JM, Chang HY, Young RA, Zon LI. Stress from Nucleotide Depletion Activates the Transcriptional Regulator HEXIM1 to Suppress Melanoma. Molecular cell 2016. PMID: 27058786


  15. Avagyan S, Zon LI. Fish to Learn: Insights into Blood Development and Blood Disorders from Zebrafish Hematopoiesis. Human gene therapy 2016. PMID: 27018965


  16. Avagyan S, Churchill M, Yamamoto K, Crowe JL, Li C, Lee BJ, Zheng T, Mukherjee S, Zha S. Hematopoietic stem cell dysfunction underlies the progressive lymphocytopenia in XLF/Cernunnos deficiency. Blood 2014. PMID: 25075129


  17. Avagyan S, Klein M, Kerkar N, Demattia A, Blei F, Lee S, Rosenberg HK, Arnon R. Propranolol as a first-line treatment for diffuse infantile hepatic hemangioendothelioma. Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition 2013. PMID: 22331019


  18. Avagyan S, Aguilo F, Kamezaki K, Snoeck HW. Quantitative trait mapping reveals a regulatory axis involving peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, PRDM16, transforming growth factor-ß2 and FLT3 in hematopoiesis. Blood 2011. PMID: 21967974


  19. Aguilo F, Avagyan S, Labar A, Sevilla A, Lee DF, Kumar P, Lemischka IR, Zhou BY, Snoeck HW. Prdm16 is a physiologic regulator of hematopoietic stem cells. Blood 2011. PMID: 21343612


  20. Yvan-Charvet L, Pagler T, Gautier EL, Avagyan S, Siry RL, Han S, Welch CL, Wang N, Randolph GJ, Snoeck HW, Tall AR. ATP-binding cassette transporters and HDL suppress hematopoietic stem cell proliferation. Science (New York, N.Y.) 2010. PMID: 20488992


  21. Kumar R, Avagyan S, Snoeck HW. A quantitative trait locus on chr.4 regulates thymic involution. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 2010. PMID: 20371546


  22. Avagyan S, Amrani YM, Snoeck HW. Identification and in vivo analysis of murine hematopoietic stem cells. Methods in enzymology 2010. PMID: 20691879


  23. Avagyan S, Glouchkova L, Choi J, Snoeck HW. A quantitative trait locus on chromosome 4 affects cycling of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells through regulation of TGF-beta 2 responsiveness. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2008. PMID: 18941179


  24. Bullard T, Freudenthal J, Avagyan S, Kahr B. Test of Cairns-Smith's 'crystals-as-genes' hypothesis. Faraday discussions 2007. PMID: 17955812


  25. George SK, Preda I, Avagyan S, McEvoy RC, Rapaport R, Brumeanu TD, Casares S. Immunokinetics of autoreactive CD4 T cells in blood: a reporter for the "hit-and-run" autoimmune attack on pancreas and diabetes progression. Journal of autoimmunity 2004. PMID: 15324933


  26. Sokurenko EV, Feldgarden M, Trintchina E, Weissman SJ, Avagyan S, Chattopadhyay S, Johnson JR, Dykhuizen DE. Selection footprint in the FimH adhesin shows pathoadaptive niche differentiation in Escherichia coli. Molecular biology and evolution 2004. PMID: 15044596