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INFORMATION FOR

Diane Krause, MD, PhD

Anthony N. Brady Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Professor of Pathology
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Additional Titles

Vice Chair for Research Affairs, Laboratory Medicine

Assoc. Director, Yale Stem Cell Center

Assoc. Director, Transfusion Medicine Service

Medical Director, Clinical Cell Processing Laboratory

Medical Director, Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory

About

Titles

Anthony N. Brady Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Professor of Pathology

Vice Chair for Research Affairs, Laboratory Medicine; Assoc. Director, Yale Stem Cell Center; Assoc. Director, Transfusion Medicine Service; Medical Director, Clinical Cell Processing Laboratory; Medical Director, Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory

Biography

Diane Krause MD, PhD is Professor of Laboratory Medicine, Pathology and Cell Biology at Yale University; Associate Director of the Yale Stem Cell Center; and Director of the Clinical Cell Processing Laboratory. She received an Sc.B. degree in Biology from Brown University, and an MD and PhD degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a residency in Clinical Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania, she performed post-doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University. She runs a well-funded research laboratory focused on leukemogenesis, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell fate specification clinical cell therapy and pluripotent stem cell differentiation down the parathyroid lineage. Watch a video with Dr. Diane Krause >>

Appointments

  • Laboratory Medicine

    Professor
    Primary

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Fellow
Johns Hopkins Hospital (1995)
Resident
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (1993)
MD
University of Pennsylvania (1990)
PhD
University of Pennsylvania (1990)

Research

Overview

Hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis using bone marrow derived stem and progenitor cells Projects in the lab focus on molecular mechanisms that regulate early hematopoiesis and may be dysfunctional in leukemogenesis. Specifically, we are using primary cells as well as murine and human embryonic stem cells to study RBM15 and MKL1, two genes that are fused in the t(1;22) translocation associated with Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukemia AMKL). We are studying the roles of RBM15 and MKL1 in normal myelopoiesis and leukemogenesis. We have shown that RBM15 is downregulated as hematopoietic stem cells differentiate down the myeloid lineage such that megakaryoblasts express low levels of RBM15. When RBM15 is overexpressed, it prevents myeloid differentiation, and when RBM15 is inhibited or deleted, myeloid differentiation is enhanced, and there is a loss of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell self-renewal. RBM15 can affect Notch signaling; RBM15 represses Notch induced Hes1 promoter activity. In addition, RBM15 is required for m6A RNA modification, and we are studying th role of this epitranscriptomic modification in normal hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis.

MKL1, identified at the C-terminus of the t(1;22) translocation specific to acute megakaryoblastic leukemia, is highly expressed in differentiated muscle cells and promotes muscle differentiation by activating serum response factor (SRF). The Krause laboratory has shown that MKL1 expression is upregulated during murine and human megakaryocytic differentiation, and that enforced overexpression of MKL1 enhances megakaryocytic differentiation. When the Human Erythroleukemia (HEL) cell line is induced to differentiate with TPA, overexpression of MKL1 results in an increased number of megakaryocytes with a concurrent increase in ploidy. MKL1 overexpression also promotes thrombopoietin-induced megakaryocytic differentiation of primary human CD34+ cells. The effect of MKL1 is abrogated when SRF is knocked down, suggesting that MKL1 acts through SRF. Consistent with these findings in human cells, knock out of MKL1 in mice leads to reduced platelet counts, and reduced ploidy in bone marrow megakaryocytes. Thus, MKL1 promotes physiological maturation of human and murine megakaryocytes.

Link to laboratory website: https://krauselab.net/

Medical Research Interests

Bone Marrow Transplantation; Cell Biology; Gene Expression; Hematology; Leukemia; Pathology; Stem Cells

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Diane Krause's published research.

Publications

2024

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Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Yale University School of Medicine

    CommitteesMember
  • activity

    Yale New Haven Hospital/Yale University School of Medicine

    CommitteesMember
  • activity

    Yale University School of Medicine

    CommitteesMember
  • activity

    Yale University

    CommitteesMember
  • activity

    Yale University School of Medicine

    CommitteesMember
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Clinical Care

Overview

Diane Krause, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist with over two decades of experience in cell transplant therapies for patients with leukemia and other blood diseases. As medical director of Yale Cancer Center’s Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory, Dr. Krause oversees the development of therapies designed to help boost patients’ immune systems. “It’s a state-of-the-art facility,” Dr. Krause says, of the lab. “Only the top cancer centers have a laboratory like this.”

Bone marrow transplantation is an example of a cellular therapy that most people have heard of – but, explains Dr. Krause, current cellular therapies go far beyond that and have the potential to become routine treatments in the near future. She and lab members are researching ways to harness the manufacturing of a patient’s immune cells that express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), a burgeoning area within cancer immunotherapy treatment. “We are seizing the opportunity,” she says.

At Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Krause serves as associate director of the Yale Stem Cell Center and is professor of laboratory medicine, of cell biology, and of pathology.

Clinical Specialties

Laboratory Medicine; Pathology

Board Certifications

  • Clinical Pathology

    Certification Organization
    AB of Pathology
    Original Certification Date
    1994

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View this doctor's clinical profile on the Yale Medicine website for information about the services we offer and making an appointment.

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Contacts

Email
Academic Office Number
Office Fax Number
Mailing Address

Yale Stem Cell Center

PO Box 208073, 10 Amistad Street

New Haven, CT 06509

United States