Dr. David Russler-Germain joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an instructor in July of 2023. He is a physician-scientist with research and clinical interests in hematologic malignancies, with a particular emphasis on B cell lymphomas. In the laboratory, his major focus is on follicular lymphoma pathogenesis. They are interested in answering three major questions:
- What are the events that lead to the development of follicular lymphoma and how do these different events influence disease behavior?
- What cellular mechanisms influence therapeutic resistance and drive subsequent relapse?
- What tumor intrinsic and extrinsic processes contribute to aggressive histologic transformation of follicular lymphoma?
They approach these questions using a variety of systems, including novel mouse models of follicular lymphoma, as well as genomic, transcriptomic, and immunologic profiling of lymphoma patient samples.
Based on our follicular lymphoma genomics studies, they have identified new high-risk mutations that may drive early progression of disease. They are exploring how these mutations cooperate with known drivers of follicular lymphoma to better understand its heterogeneity. In addition to genomic profiling of follicular and transformed lymphomas, they are also exploring circulating tumor DNA sequencing for non-invasive follicular lymphoma genotyping, as well as for measurable residual disease testing during patient treatment and monitoring. These research interests dovetail with his clinical interests and outpatient clinic taking care of patients with a range of lymphoma diagnoses. They are currently leading clinical trials of novel immunotherapies in B cell lymphomas, including studies of T cell redirecting bispecific antibodies in the newly diagnosed follicular lymphoma and relapsed diffuse large B cell lymphoma settings. They are also conducting prospective biomarker studies of circulating tumor DNA sequencing in follicular lymphoma, aiming to explore this new technology for prognostication and response assessment.