# First person – Christina Walker

## TL;DR

Christina Walker discusses her research on how genetic changes work together to cause myeloid leukemia in zebrafish and how precision medicine can improve cancer treatment.

## Contribution

The study explores the cooperative effect of RUNX1::RUNX1T1 isoform 9a and oncogenic NRAS mutations in zebrafish myeloid leukemia.

## Key findings

- RUNX1::RUNX1T1 isoform 9a and NRAS mutations cooperate to drive myeloid leukemia in zebrafish.
- The research highlights potential for precision medicine in treating leukemia based on genetic interplay.

## Abstract

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Biology Open, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Christina Walker is first author on ‘
Mutational cooperativity of RUNX1::RUNX1T1 isoform 9a and oncogenic NRAS in zebrafish myeloid leukaemia’, published in BiO. Christina is a research assistant in the lab of Dr Andrew Wood at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, investigating the interplay between genetic alterations to drive cancer and how precision medicine can help inform progression, prognosis and treatment.