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Faculty Detail    
Name ROBERT SAMUEL WELNER
  
Campus Address WTI 510D Zip 3300
Phone  (205) 975-3960
E-mail  rwelner@uab.edu
Other websites
     

Education
Graduate  University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center    2006  PhD - Immunology/Microbiology 
Fellowship  Harvard Medical School    2015  Postdoc Fellow 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Med - Hematology & Oncology  Med - Hematology & Oncology Associate Professor
Center  Comp Arthritis, MSK, Bone & Autoimmunity Ctr  Comp Arthritis, MSK, Bone & Autoimmunity Ctr Associate Professor
Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Associate Professor
Center  Comprehensive Diabetes Center  Comprehensive Diabetes Center Associate Professor
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Associate Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Cancer Biology 
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology 
Immunology 

Biographical Sketch 
I received my PhD degree in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Oklahoma with Dr. Paul Kincade. I later moved to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School for my post-doctoral training with Dr. Daniel Tenen. I'm currently an Assistant Professor in Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Society of Hematology  Member   
American Association of Immunologists  Member   
International Society for Experimental Hematology  Member   
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Studying the bone marrow microenvironment during steady-state, inflammation, or leukemia
Description
My research has focused on stem cell biology, transcription factors, and gene regulation differences between normal adult cells and their diseased counterpart. Major advances have been made recently in describing the transcriptional networks dictating self-renewal of stem cells, and a number of important transcriptional regulators have been characterized during hematopoiesis; meanwhile, understanding how these processes become dysregulated in their function in hematopoietic stem cells has not been well established. My research projects investigate the role of steady-state and perturbed stromal microenvironments on the stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, and more importantly the interplay between these contradictory forces within the stem cell niche.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia by blocking cytokine alterations found in normal stem and progenitor cells.
Welner RS, Amabile G, Bararia D, Czibere A, Yang H, Zhang H, Pontes LL, Ye M, Levantini E, Di Ruscio A, Martinelli G, Tenen DG.
Cancer Cell. 2015 May 11;27(5):671-81. 		 25965572 
Regulation of normal and leukemic stem cells through cytokine signaling and the microenvironment. Camacho V, McClearn V, Patel S, Welner RS. Int J Hematol. 2017 May;105(5):566-577. doi: 10.1007/s12185-017-2184-6.
 		 28176225 
The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor SHARP1 is an oncogenic driver in MLL-AF6 acute myelogenous leukemia. Numata A, Kwok HS, Kawasaki A, Li J, Zhou QL, Kerry J, Benoukraf T, Bararia D, Li F, Ballabio E, Tapia M, Deshpande AJ, Welner RS, Delwel R, Yang H, Milne TA, Taneja R, Tenen DG. Nat Commun. 2018 Apr 24;9(1):1622.  29692408 
The IL-33-PIN1-IRAK-M axis is critical for type 2 immunity in IL-33-induced allergic airway inflammation. Nechama M, Kwon J, Wei S, Kyi AT, Welner RS, Ben-Dov IZ, Arredouani MS, Asara JM, Chen CH, Tsai CY, Nelson KF, Kobayashi KS, Israel E, Zhou XZ, Nicholson LK, Lu KP. Nat Commun. 2018 Apr 23;9(1):1603.  29686383 
C/EBPg is dispensable for steady-state and emergency granulopoiesis. Kardosova M, Zjablovskaja P, Danek P, Angelisova P, de Figueiredo-Pontes LL, Welner RS, Brdicka T, Lee S, Tenen DG, Alberich-Jorda M. Haematologica. 2018 Aug;103(8):e331-e335.  29567783 
ZNF143 protein is an important regulator of the myeloid transcription factor C/EBPa. Gonzalez D, Luyten A, Bartholdy B, Zhou Q, Kardosova M, Ebralidze A, Swanson KD, Radomska HS, Zhang P, Kobayashi SS, Welner RS, Levantini E, Steidl U, Chong G, Collombet S, Choi MH, Friedman AD, Scott LM, Alberich-Jorda M, Tenen DG. J Biol Chem. 2017 Nov 17;292(46):18924-18936.  28900037 
Targeted BMI1 inhibition impairs tumor growth in lung adenocarcinomas with low CEBPa expression. Yong KJ, Basseres DS, Welner RS, Zhang WC, Yang H, Yan B, Alberich-Jorda M, Zhang J, de Figueiredo-Pontes LL, Battelli C, Hetherington CJ, Ye M, Zhang H, Maroni G, O'Brien K, Magli MC, Borczuk AC, Varticovski L, Kocher O, Zhang P, Moon YC, Sydorenko N, Cao L, Davis TW, Thakkar BM, Soo RA, Iwama A, Lim B, Halmos B, Neuberg D, Tenen DG, Levantini E. Sci Transl Med. 2016 Aug 3;8(350):350ra104.  27488898 
The second hit of DNA methylation. Di Ruscio A, Welner RS, Tenen DG, Amabile G. Mol Cell Oncol. 2015 Oct 29;3(3):e1093690.  27314082 
Multiple sclerosis: getting personal with induced pluripotent stem cells. Di Ruscio A, Patti F, Welner RS, Tenen DG, Amabile G. Cell Death Dis. 2016 Apr 14;7:e2185.  27077801 
Acetylation of C/EBPa inhibits its granulopoietic function. Bararia D, Kwok HS, Welner RS, Numata A, Sárosi MB, Yang H, Wee S, Tschuri S, Ray D, Weigert O, Levantini E, Ebralidze AK, Gunaratne J, Tenen DG. Nat Commun. 2016 Mar 23;7:10968. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10968.  27005833 
The DNA Ligase IV Syndrome R278H Mutation Impairs B Lymphopoiesis via Error-Prone Nonhomologous End-Joining. Park J, Welner RS, Chan MY, Troppito L, Staber PB, Tenen DG, Yan CT. J Immunol. 2016 Jan 1;196(1):244-55.  26608917 
Hematopoietic Differentiation Is Required for Initiation of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Ye M, Zhang H, Yang H, Koche R, Staber PB, Cusan M, Levantini E, Welner RS, Bach CS, Zhang J, Krivtsov AV, Armstrong SA, Tenen DG. Cell Stem Cell. 2015 Nov 5;17(5):611-23.   26412561 
Dissecting the role of aberrant DNA methylation in human leukaemia. Amabile G, Di Ruscio A, Müller F, Welner RS, Yang H, Ebralidze AK, Zhang H, Levantini E, Qi L, Martinelli G, Brummelkamp T, Le Beau MM, Figueroa ME, Bock C, Tenen DG. Nat Commun. 2015 May 22;6:7091.  25997600 
 

Keywords
stem cell, hematopoiesis, niche, stromal cells, immune response, leukemia