Research Interest

Dr Andersson’s research is focused on optimizing pretransplant conditioning therapy through an improved understanding of leukemic cell resistance to bifunctional DNA-alkylating agents.  His group developed the IV Busulfan formulation commonly used in pretransplant conditioning therapy, and together with Dr James Russell at the University of Alberta in Calgary, CA, he combined once daily IV Busulfan and Fludarabine as a novel “platform technology” that has dramatically improved the safety of stem cell transplantation, rapidly establishing a new standard, the reduced-toxicity programs, for pretransplant conditioning therapy.  The further development of the nucleoside analog-IV Busulfan concept includes the exploration of two different nucleoside analogs with the alkylating agent, ongoing studies explore how to further optimize this in a clinical setting.  More recently, this concept has been applied to the conditioning therapy of patients with genetic disease, Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anemia, where it promises to allow safe transplants to patients otherwise too sick for safe treatment.  The ultimate goal is to incorporate the new knowledge regarding the interactions between different chemotherapeutic agents and cellular macromolecules into the therapy, such that more efficacious therapy can be developed without sacrificing patient safety.