Zhengfei Lu, a PhD candidate in the lab of Michael Lieber, the Rita and Edward Polusky Professor in Basic Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is the first author of a research study featured on the cover of the May 30 issue of Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.  The paper is titled “BCL6 breaks occur at different AID sequence motifs in Ig–BCL6 and non-Ig–BCL6 rearrangements.”

According to Lu, “chromosomal rearrangements are common in human cancer.  By analyzing chromosomal break sequences collected from patients, we have discovered the fingerprints left by the process that caused the lymphoma.

Lieber described the placement of the study on the journal cover as “an important recognition of the quality and importance of the research.” For Lu, this honor and distinction has energized his passion for research.

“I am excited and will continue to devote myself toward understanding how human lymphomas arise,” Lu said. “Some day this knowledge will help prevent people from getting this and other types of cancer.”