DrDeena Iskander

I am a clinician scientist focused on inherited bone marrow failure syndromes, a group of rare childhood diseases that cause low blood counts, birth abnormalities and an increased risk of cancer. 

My research group, funded by an MRC Clinician Scientist Award, aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underpinning tissue-specific phenotypes in human ribosompathies, using Diamond Blackfan anamia syndrome (DBAS) as a model. We work closely with patients and families (particulalry DBAS UK and the DBAS Foundation) to design and deliver our research. I spend approximately one day a week as an Honorary Consultant in the Department of Paediatric Haematology, St Mary’s Hospital, London, where I co-lead the inherited bone marrow failure service (with Professor Josu de la Fuente), caring for children and adults, pre- and post- bone marrow transplant. 

I studied Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and undertook clinical training in medicine and haematology in Edinburgh, Manchester and London. During my PhD, supervised by Professors Tassos Karadimitris (Imperial) and Irene Roberts (University of Oxford), I defined human erythroid progenitor populations and the erythroid defect in DBAS. I also established a National Clinical Registry to identify novel clinical features of DBAS, such as immunodeficiency. My post-doctoral research at Imperial (funded by a NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship and NIHR Imperial Post-Doctoral Fellowship) discovered new relationships between genotype and haematological phenotype in DBAS, using single-cell RNA sequencing of primary samples and human cellular model systems. We work with a large network of collaborators in Europe and N America. In 2026 I undertook a 6-month visiting fellowship at the Psaila, Higgs and Khan laboratories at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford.

If you are interested in translational research in human haematopoiesis, please get in touch!

Curent Lab members

Nicole Zhang (PhD student)

Lars Hanssen (Academic Clinical Lecturer; shared with Vaquerizas Lab)

Elsa Ferris (Research Assistant; shared with Cooper/Okoli Labs)