Who We Fund

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Nika Danial is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Cancer Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she Co-Directs the T32 Training Program in Cancer Chemical Biology and Metabolism. She received a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Biophysical Studies from Columbia University. Her postdoctoral studies with the late Stanley J. Korsmeyer focused on the role of BCL-2 family proteins in mitochondrial apoptosis, where she discovered a molecular link between cell survival/death regulatory pathways and metabolism. Dr. Danial’s lab studies fundamental aspects of metabolic biology, including causes and consequences of cellular nutrient utilization patterns and metabolic signals that shape cell fate, function, and stress responses. This research has led to advances in metabolic mechanisms that link nutrient signaling to diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Lipid-dependent regulation of oncogenic signaling in DLBCL growth and therapeutic response

Imperial College, University of London

After completing a PhD in Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, I moved to Imperial College London to study how persistent infection with a virus causes Leukemia, Lymphoma and other diseases. The virus in question is Human T cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1), which infects the very cells which defend us against viruses: T cells. Around 5% of virus-carriers develop aggressive blood cancer (Adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma, ATL), in which one infected T cell becomes malignant. ATL is very difficult to treat, and people with the most aggressive forms survive for less than a year. I made the game-changing discovery that ATL-like T cells circulate in the blood of carriers who go on to develop ATL years before they show symptoms of ATL. I am now developing new diagnostics which can detect ATL early, and together with clinicians at the U.K. National Centre for Human Retrovirology and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, will test whether a recently licenced drug can eliminate ATL-like T cells in high-risk carriers.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Detection and treatment of Adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma in the premalignant stage.

Columbia University Medical Center

Jennifer Amengual, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University in the Division of Hematology and Oncology. As a physician-scientist, her research goals are to directly translate observations and concepts developed in the laboratory to rational targeted therapies for patients with lymphoma. Dr. Amengual has led many investigator-initiated trials based on data generated in her laboratory through the NCI Cooperative Group Networks, SWOG and ETCTN. Columbia University is a tertiary care center that performs a high number of organ transplants and has an enrichment of PTLD patients. This has generated great interest in how to improve screening and treatment for these patients. Dr. Amengual has spearheaded a PTLD working group that encompasses transplant, infectious disease, lymphoma and cellular therapy specialists from both the adult and pediatric groups. This has led to the development of several studies providing the foundation for the proposed clinical trial.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

Defining ctDNA monitoring and immune modulation in a novel, risk stratified clinical trial for PTLD

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Marco Ruella is a physician-scientist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He treats patients with blood cancers and focuses on using immunotherapy, where the body’s own immune system is harnessed to fight cancer. His research looks at why some cancers return after CAR T-cell therapy and aims to design new treatments to prevent this. Dr. Ruella earned his medical degree in Italy and completed advanced training in the U.S. He has received many awards for his work, including from the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Dr. Ruella has published widely, holds multiple patents, and advises companies in cancer immunotherapy. He also founded viTToria Biotherapeutics to help bring new treatments to patients.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Building Upon The Success Of CART19: Safe and Effective Next-Generation CART For Relapsed And Refractory Lymphomas

β-Hydroxybutyrate To Enhance CAR T Cell Immunotherapy Against Hematological Cancers

The Jackson Laboratory

Jennifer Trowbridge is an Associate Professor at The Jackson Laboratory, where she has had her independent laboratory since 2012, and is adjunct faculty at Tufts University School of Medicine and the University of Maine. She received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Western Ontario in 2006 and completed postdoctoral training with Dr. Stuart Orkin at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Trowbridge’s research interests span hematopoiesis, stem cell biology, aging, and cancer biology. The current focus of her laboratory is on cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic processes underlying hematopoietic stem cell dysregulation in age-related clonal hematopoiesis and myeloid malignancies. She is a Scholar of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and past recipient of the Janet Rowley Award from the International Society for Experimental Hematology, the V Foundation V Scholar Award, American Society of Hematology Scholar Award, and the Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar Award in Aging.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Discovery of Aging-Driven Mechanisms Causing Clonal Hematopoiesis (CH) and its Progression to Hematological Malignancy

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Romee is a translational physician-scientist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. His long-term research goals are to translate novel aspects of immunology to improve treatments for patients with advanced cancer. He did his medical training at University of Minnesota and Washington University and was a faculty at Washington University before joining Dana Farber. He is the PI of Romee Lab for NK Cell Gene Manipulation and Therapy (https://romeelab.dana-farber.org) and the focus of his lab is gene editing of the immune cells particularly NK cells to enhance their cancer cell targeting and killing. His work helped describe memory-like NK cells which have enhanced activity against cancer cells and persist for months after their infusion into leukemia patients. He is leading efforts at Dana Farber to develop novel protocols using memory-like NK cells with other immunomodulating agents like checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced and otherwise incurable leukemia and solid tumors like Head and Neck Cancer, Ovarian Cancer and Kidney Cancer.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Cytokine induced memory-like NK cell immunotherapy to target post transplant relapse

Mayo Clinic, Rochester

Grzegorz (Greg) Nowakowski, M.D., is a consultant and a Professor of Oncology and Medicine, Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester,Minnesota, where he also serves as the Aggressive B-cell Lymphoma Program Director, the Chairman of Education,and an Advanced Hematology Fellowship Program Director. Dr. Nowakowski received his MD from the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland. He completed his internal medicine residency at Yale University Medical School -Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk, Connecticut and his fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Dr Nowakowski joined the Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Group in 2006 as a Mayo Foundation Scholar.Heis an alumnus of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Clinical Research Training Institute and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Leadership Development Program. Dr. Nowakowski’s research focuses on the molecular classification and biology of lymphoproliferative disorders,new approaches to clinical trial design and novel therapies for lymphoma and hematological disorders. Heis an investigator in University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Specialized Center of Research Excellence program, where he leads career enhancement program. Dr. Nowakowski has authored over 200 articles and numerous book chapters. Dr.Nowakowski serves as a principal investigator of multiple investigator-initiated and cooperative group clinical trials(ECOG, Alliance) and industry studies and serves and a member of ECOG Lymphoma Core Committee. Dr.Nowakowski also chairs the Lymphoma Committee and Hematological Malignancy Program in the Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU) network. He currently serves as a vice Chair of ASH Clinical Trial Innovation Subcommittee chair of ASCO Research Community Forum and ASCO Clinical Trial Access and Participation Taskforce. Dr. Nowakowski has served as Voting Member of the Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

REACH: Recruitment Expansion through community Access to Clinical trials in Hematologic malignancies

University of California San Diego

Dr. Su is Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of California, San Diego, where she directs the Oncofertility Program. Dr. Su completed residency in obstetrics and gynecology, fellowship in reproductive endocrinology, and Master’s of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as implementation science training through NCI’s Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer Program. Dr. Su is a physician scientist who conducts patient oriented research on reproductive health in young cancer survivors. Through innovative observational and interventional studies, team-based science, and community engagement, Dr. Su’s studies focus on estimating reproductive risks after cancer, implementing evidence-based practices, and improving equity in reproductive health care delivery, funded by NCI, NICHD, American Cancer Society, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Recent work on health policies as an intervention to improve access to care suggest that state-level fertility preservation benefit mandates are not working as intended. This team with existing collaborations and complementary methodologic and clinical expertise will use national administrative data to estimate the impact of mandated insurance benefits on fertility preservation utilization and affordability, in order to inform future federal and state laws and regulations.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Impact of State Health Insurance Mandates on Affordability and Utilization of Fertility Preservation in Adolescent and Young Adults with Blood Cancers

University of California, Los Angeles

Yue Wang, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA with extensive expertise in developmental and stem cell biology. He earned his PhD in Regenerative Medicine from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he conducted groundbreaking research on the regulatory mechanisms of trophoblast lineage differentiation. Dr. Wang also developed a stem-cell based organoid model to study Zika virus effects on human placenta. At UCLA, he works with Dr. Hanna Mikkola and uses single cell technologies to understand how Trisomy 21 affects human B cell development and transformation to aggressive form of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in children with Down Syndrome. His work aims to identify cellular origins and molecular mechanisms driving this unique type of leukemia, offering potential insights for safer and more effective therapies.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Unraveling the Cellular and Molecular Origins of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Down syndrome

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I earned a B.S. in Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I began cancer research in Dr. Dane Wittrup’s laboratory studying combination immunotherapies in melanoma. I then worked in Dr. Cigall Kadoch’s lab on chromatin remodeling before matriculating into the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD program at Weill Cornell. For my thesis, I identified a transcription factor critical for asparagine synthesis in T-ALL - clinically relevant to L-asparaginase therapy. During my PhD I was awarded an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA F30 with a top-10th-percentile score for this work. I subsequently matched into the Medical Research Track at Weill Cornell Medicine and completed internal medicine residency. I am now a second-year Hematology/Oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, studying epigenetic mechanisms of lymphomagenesis to develop clinically translatable biomarkers and targets for the patients with lymphoma.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Epiproteomic profiling of Sézary Syndrome

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Monika Mittal is a dedicated researcher specializing in cancer biology, with a focus on acute myeloid leukemia (AML). With a strong background in molecular biology and biochemistry, Dr. Mittal aims to uncover the underlying mechanisms of blood cancers and develop innovative therapeutic strategies. Currently, Dr. Mittal is investigating the role of DCAF15, a protein that regulates cellular processes, to understand its impact on AML progression and treatment. By employing advanced techniques such as gene editing and targeted protein degradation, Dr. Mittal aims to create new therapeutic strategies that can improve patient outcomes. Passionate about translating scientific discoveries into clinical applications, Dr. Mittal is committed to improving outcomes for those affected by blood cancers, driving research forward to find more effective treatments for AML. Through collaboration and innovation, Dr. Mittal hopes to make a meaningful difference in the fight against leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Leveraging the ubiquitin proteasome system for targeted therapy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Scott Lowe is Chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a member of the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Medicine. He studies how the genetic alterations contribute to cancer and its responses to treatment. A focus is the body’s own tumor-suppressing processes. Lowe discovered tumor-suppressing roles for processes known as apoptosis and cellular senescence, and he identified a key protein, p53, as a trigger for them both. He showed that p53 can determine whether cancers respond to or resist chemotherapy. In addition, he uncovered means of harnessing cellular senescence to make cancer therapies more effective.

In AML, Lowe has clarified the role of p53 in therapy resistance, identified multiple ways in which chromosomal rearrangements drive leukemia, pinpointed effects of p53, and discovered novel dependencies. Overall, his work has identified new therapeutic approaches that have led to clinical trials.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Mechanisms and Therapeutic Vulnerabilities of Erythroid-Biased Complex Karyotype AML