Profile
Dr. Laffey’s research focuses on how aberrant T cell development and function drive development of blood cancers and autoimmunity. Using a combination of genetic models and transcriptomic sequencing, her work explores the T cell signaling and gene expression characteristics which define the “aberrant” cellular context. She further studies how such aberrancy can result in altered T cell development leading to leukemia as well as how it impacts interactions with other cells leading to autoimmune diseases, with the goal that greater understanding of these disease mechanisms may lead to additional avenues of intervention.
Academic Information
Office
1030 Hitt Street
Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Building
Columbia, MO 65211
United States
Research Interests
- Leukemia and lymphoma
- T cell immunodeficiency
- Immune signaling
- Autoimmunity
- Hematopoiesis
Education & Training
Degrees
2022 Postdoctoral, University of Missouri
2018 Postdoctoral, Mayo Clinic
2016 PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago
Publications
- Laffey KG, Stiles RJ, Ludescher MJ, Davis TR, Khwaja SS, Bram RJ, Wettstein PJ, Ramachandran V, Parks CA, Reyes EE, Ferrer A, Canfield JM, Johnson CE, Hammer RD, Gil D, Schrum AG.
Early expression of mature αβ TCR in CD4-CD8- T cell progenitors enables MHC to drive development of T-ALL bearing NOTCH mutations.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jul 5;119(27):e2118529119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2118529119. Epub 2022 Jun 29.
- Laffey KG, Du J, Schrum AG, Ackerman SJ.
Transcriptional Regulation of the Human IL5RA Gene through Alternative Promoter Usage during Eosinophil Development.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Sep 23;22(19):10245. doi: 10.3390/ijms221910245.
- Laffey KG, Nelson AD, Laffey MJ, Nguyen Q, Sheets LR, Schrum AG.
Chronic respiratory disease disparity between American Indian/Alaska Native and white populations, 2011-2018.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jul 28;21(1):1466. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11528-8.