Dr. Heldermon’s is an Associate Professor of Medicine. His primary focus is on developing new therapeutic strategies using gene therapy and stem cell therapy for patients with inherited diseases such as lysosomal storage disorders and hemophilias. Dr. Heldermon is focused on studying the frequent cell transfer between mother and fetus during gestation that establish microchimerism and is determining ways to modulate the level of this chimerism to enable therapy of disease. Through the use of gene replacement, he hopes to correct the underlying deficiencies underpinning the disease manifestations.

Additionally, Dr. Heldermon is studying the spread of breast malignancies through the use of xenografting. By studying the spread of tumors from breast cancer patients in mice, he hopes to determine if metastases is determined by tumor specific or host factors. This model will allow identification of what factors are important in tumor spread and localization. Additionally, the model will allow testing of therapeutic agents. The goal is to identify new targets for therapy to personalize oncologic therapeutics.

Clinical Interests:

• Mucopolysaccharidosis type III

• Breast cancer

• Cancer – resources

• Gaucher disease

• Stem cell research

Representative Publications:

Mucopolysaccharidosis III (Sanfilippo Syndrome) – Disease Presentation and Experimental Therapies

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