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Since 1997, Katsanis has treated children, adolescents and young adults with blood disorders and cancer at Diamond Children’s Center at Banner Health, and he has seen extraordinary changes in the field.

For patients with leukemia, treatment is extensive. They may require hematopoietic stem cell transplant, commonly known as a bone marrow transplant, which replaces a cancer patient’s bone marrow with healthy stem cells and a new immune system. They first receive high dose chemotherapy drugs, and possibly total body irradiation, to eliminate the diseased cells in their immune system. They are then administered a dose of donor stem cells, which engraft into the bone marrow and grow to build a healthy system that can fight cancer.

Katsanis said that process is effective because it allows higher doses of chemotherapy, and the patient gets a new immune system from the donor, which may recognize the cancer as foreign and attack it in a process called graft versus leukemia.

“The immune system may play a significant role in eliminating any cancer cells surviving chemotherapy,” Katsanis said.

MESA, AZ — A Valley couple who started a nonprofit organization in memory of their young daughter who fought cancer is expanding their reach to touch even more lives. Their nonprofit, Jazmine's Journey, is now partnering with the University of Arizona’s Steele Children’s Research Center to fund childhood cancer research.

Dr. Katsanis is interviewed by local news station about clinical trials currently happening at the UA Cancer Center. 'Without research, you can't improve things,' says Dr. Katsanis. The University of Arizona's Cancer Center in Tucson is the state's only National Cancer Institute-designated facility and ABC15 recently got to see part of it for ourselves.

A researcher at the University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center has received a $400,000 grant to support his work into childhood leukemia and other blood-related cancers.
The nonprofit organization Hyundai Hope on Wheels awarded Dr. Emmanual Katsanis of the Steele Children’s Research Center the Hope Scholar Award.
“Pediatric cancer represents a small portion of cancer in the community, so industry in general always supports research in adults because that’s where they make their money,” Katsanis said. “Grants like this support research that is specifically for pediatrics.”

Dr. Simpson is interviewed in this New York Times article. Recent research suggests that people who work out have stronger resistance to infectious diseases — including Covid — but experts say the findings need to be tested further.

A NASA simulation investigates how the stress of space travel might trigger the reemergence of viruses long dormant in our bodies.
Simpson, a professor at the University of Arizona who specializes in immunology and exercise physiology, has worked with NASA over multiple missions to learn more about the effects of stress. Over the course of this HERA mission, Cornell and her crewmates provide blood, urine and saliva samples, as well as data on their vitals, that Simpson and other researchers can use to study how isolation, intense emergency scenarios and team dynamics affect our brains and bodies.

Episode 29: Bringing hope to pediatric transplant patients and their families

Treatment for patients with blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma may include a bone marrow transplant to replace unhealthy tissue to increase odds of recovery and survival. Transplants can be lifesaving but are complex and challenging, especially in the case of children.

Physician-scientist Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis not only performs transplantation, but also actively researches tumor and transplant immunology. Dr. Katsanis is a professor of pediatrics, medicine, immunology, and cancer biology, and is a BIO5 member. He discusses his three decades of expertise in the lab and clinic as the Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Arizona, as well as directing his own research lab.

Simpson and his colleagues hope these findings will encourage more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The article, “Recent COVID-19 vaccination has minimal effects on the physiological responses to graded exercise in physically active healthy people” is highlighted as one of this month’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.

Interview with Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis on haploidentical transplants, a type of bone marrow transplant that uses healthy cells from a family member to replace unhealthy cells in the patient.

"The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on health, society and the global economy. Worldwide infections are now over 7.5 million with over 420,000 deaths. Unemployment rates have soared and the livelihoods of millions of people are under threat. Government shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines have restricted the movement of ~3 billion people around the globe, separating us from our loved ones and the daily social connections to which we have become accustomed".  Blog article by Dr. Richard J. Simpson