Elijah Edmondson, D.V.M., Ph.D., a staff pathologist in the Laboratory Animal Sciences Program at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL) has become a Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology.
ABT certification recognizes broad expertise in toxicology, which is a crucial part of drug development and translating FNL research to clinical therapies.
For Edmondson and his role as a pathologist, working towards becoming a certified diplomate gave him a deeper understanding of best practices to design, execute, and interpret toxicology studies. This is a key part of preclinical work that helps to understand the regulatory requirements to efficiently move therapies forward.
“Preparing for the ABT exam is more of a marathon than a sprint. I received significant support from Baktiar Karim and Diana Haines, both of whom provided mentorship and encouragement along the way,” said Edmondson. “Over the past year, I have been studying mechanistic toxicology and industry documents provided by the Food and Drug Administration, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, which give guidance on key areas for pharmaceutical development and risk assessment.”
Pathology is a visual discipline
During the early stages of Edmondson’s career, his passion for pathology stemmed from observing details and patterns in normal cells and tissues and the changes that occur with disease. Paying close attention to the morphology of cells and tissues reveals not only the beauty of the natural world but also the salient underlying biology.
Now what is truly exciting is the current technological explosion that is leveraging the discipline of pathology to inform transcriptomic and proteomics data, so-called “spatial biology.” This is allowing researchers to visualize -omics level information in the same way pathologists have been using stains such as H&E for the past 100 years. While the novel contributions that pathology enrichment of -omics data will provide is hard to comprehend, as is the case with any newly developing technology, it’s also very exciting.
“We are fortunate at FNL to have access to cutting-edge spatial biology tools, including state-of-the-art digital imaging tools, multiplex slide scanners, and spatial transcriptomics technologies. A confluence of expertise is necessary to fully take advantage of these new tools, and the collaborative opportunities that exists at FNL are truly powerful,” said Edmondson.
Role of the Molecular Histopathology Laboratory
Inside the Molecular Histopathology Laboratory (MHL), Edmondson and his colleagues fulfill a key role in many exciting projects. These include characterizing the toxicity or efficacy of novel therapies using histopathology and molecular pathology, including immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescence to identify protein expression or RNAscope to identify transcription.
Their recent projects have included the characterization of novel nanobody-based CAR-T cells for targeting solid tumors, utilizing combination therapy with trametinib and ganitumab for PAX-fusion negative rhabdomyosarcoma, as well as identifying the efficacy of novel kinase inhibitors to improve clinical outcomes in leukemia patients.
Recent Accomplishments
“The accomplishments I am most proud of at FNL have all been the result of successful collaboration. One such collaboration has involved utilizing spatial transcriptomics methods to characterize pancreatic cancer in mouse models. This ongoing work involves the expertise of the MHL, the Center for Advanced Preclinical Research, and the Collaborative Protein Technology Resource, and is revealing the power of spatial transcriptomics to decipher the mechanisms of tumor progression and validate the appropriateness of preclinical models to human disease,” said Edmondson.
“It is quite a relief to know that the hours dedicated to studying for the ABT have paid off. It is a significant investment of time and at times I questioned whether it was worth it. But now I am happy to be able to focus on applying this knowledge to cancer research.”
