Lucy Godley, MD, PhD
Professor, Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)
Research Program
- Translational Research in Malignancy (TRIM)
Cancer-Focused Research
The Godley laboratory studies the molecular pathways that drive hematopoietic malignancies, with a focus on understanding how germline predisposition alleles contribute to individual and family risk as well as how covalently modified cytosines in DNA control cellular differentiation. Dr. Godley has contributed to the recognition of germline DDX41, ETV6, and CSF3R variants as risk factors to developing hematopoietic malignancies. She is also studying how deleterious germline RUNX1, CHEK2, and BRCA1/2 variants drive these cancers, especially considering how the development of clonal hematopoiesis and inflammatory pathways contribute to tumorigenesis. Dr. Godley has shown that germline contribution to hematopoietic malignancies occurs throughout the entire age range of life and is more common than previously anticipated, which has important implications for the allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell donor pool. Along with David Wu (UW), Dr. Godley co-chairs the Myeloid Malignancy Variant Curation Expert Panel, which has provided variant curation rules for RUNX1 that are now in use throughout the world and is currently developing similar rules for GATA2 and DDX41. Dr. Godley's group also studies how hypoxia alters epigenetic modifications with hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, especially during erythropoiesis.