The Research Center of Leukemia and Childhood Malignancies

Cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children. Leukemias and hematopoietic malignancies are the most common types of cancer in children. Although mortality rates for these malignancies have declined significantly, the cure involves intensive and toxic chemotherapy. Our ultimate goal is to cure all children with leukemia and cancer with personalized adjustment of therapy to the severity of the disease and to the molecular genetic abnormalities in the cancer cells. A prerequisite for the achievement of this goal is better understanding of how children get leukemia and what are the differences between normal and cancer cells. This can be realistically achieved by translational research utilizing modern sophisticated genetic and biochemical tools.

The advantage of our location within Sheba medical center is the proximity to the patients and to the most advanced state- of-the-art research infrastructure. Thus questions that arise from observations in patients can be rapidly translated into laboratory research. Similarly laboratory findings can be translated into improvement in patient care. Our affiliation with Tel-Aviv University medical school and the cooperation with Bar-Ilan University and the Weizmann institute of sciences ensure the outstanding academic levels.