Who We Fund

University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus

Dr. Eric Pietras is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He completed his PhD training in microbiology and immunology at UCLA in 2008. He subsequently joined the laboratory of Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué for postdoctoral training and started his independent faculty position at the University of Colorado in November of 2015, earning promotion to Associate Professor in July 2021. Dr. Pietras leads a research program that leverages his dual backgrounds in innate immunity and hematopoiesis, focusing on the interplay between inflammation and oncogenic mutations as a trigger for alterations in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSC) metabolism that promote evolution to malignancy. The goal of his lab is to identify novel approaches for targeting this pathogenic process to disrupt myeloid oncogenesis and improve patient outcomes.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting the pathogenic 'fire triangle' of inflammation, metabolism and mutations in myeloid leukemogenesis

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

My PhD focused on blood cancer Acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I studied a family of factors known as Nuclear Hormone receptors (NHRs); finding they were less functional in AML compared to healthy cells. Using advance techniques, I identified an anti-worm drug Mebendazole could activate a master NHR, RXRA. In both invitro (laboratory) and mouse models Mebendazole potentially inhibited the growth of AML cells. I also identified another molecule NRIP1 which was highly active in AML cells. Depleting NRIP1 using molecular techniques improved AML cells differentiation when treated with retinoic acid (vitamin A). I also developed specialized cell lines models to study therapy resistance in AML. In addition to my PhD work, I have collaborated with others in my lab to identify factors that could improve the outcomes of patients undergoing bone marrow transplant. This comprehensive research has resulted in 11 publications, along with abstract achievement awards, and a senior fellowship award.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Disruption of ELOVL1 impairs the metabolic fitness of monocytic leukemic stem cells

TAP Partner

ImCheck Therapeutics is designing and developing a new generation of immunotherapeutic antibodies targeting butyrophilins, a novel super-family of immunomodulators. These “first-in-class” activating antibodies may be able to produce superior clinical results as compared to the first-generation of immune checkpoint inhibitors and, when used in combination, to overcome resistance to this group of agents.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

A phase 2 expansion study of ICT01, an anti-BTN3A monoclonal antibody, in combination with azacitidine and venetoclax in patients with AML

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Dr. John Crispino is Chief of the Division of Experimental Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He received his PhD from MIT for research on the mechanisms of RNA splicing performed in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Sharp and then performed post-doctoral hematology research at Harvard Medical School with Dr. Stuart Orkin. Dr. Crispino and members of his laboratory have made many important contributions to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of normal and aberrant blood development. Currently, his research is focused on the role of GATA1 in blood cell development, mechanisms of leukemogenesis in children with Down syndrome and the characterization of genetic changes that drive malignant progression of MDS and MPN. He has authored over 170 manuscripts, with recent papers in Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Blood. Dr. Crispino is a recent Associate Editor of Blood, on the editorial boards of Leukemia and Blood Cancer Journal and past chair of an NIH study section.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Aberrant Megakaryopoiesis in the MPNs

Understanding Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome to Develop Better Therapies

The University of Melbourne

I am an Assoc. Prof. and Group Leader at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac; Melbourne, Australia). I formed my group in 2018 and my research program is focused upon enhancing the effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, a form of immune therapy where a patient’s own immune cells are genetically engineered to recognize and kill tumor cells. I have published numerous seminal papers and research metrics place me in the top 1% of researchers in my field. Despite being a PI for just 5 years, I have already led 1 CAR T clinical trial and I am currently developing a second trial with a technology developed in my lab in 2020.

Previously my focus has been on using CAR T to treat cancers such as breast and lung cancer. However, recent clinical data indicates that CAR T cells have significant potential in multiple myeloma. Therefore, this project will be a key strategic enabler, allowing me to apply approaches developed in my lab to this disease.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Enhancing the “fitness” of anti-BCMA CAR T cells for improved efficacy in multiple myeloma

The University of Sydney

I am Head of the Cancer and Stem Cell Laboratory, and my research has been focused on leukemia stem cell biology and targeted therapies in the past 15 years. I have an extensive background in leukemia research, with specific training and expertise in stem cell biology, patient-derived preclinical models, CRISPR-genome editing, and single-cell multi-omics. As PI on several NHMRC-funded grants, I laid the groundwork for the proposed research by uncovering new therapeutic targets and mechanisms, and by establishing partnerships with industry that will enable personalized therapies into clinical application. I successfully administered the projects (e.g. staffing, research protections, timeline, budget), collaborated with researchers, and produced publications from each project in leading scientific journals (e.g. Cancer Cell, Blood). The current application builds logically on my prior work. I have the expertise, leadership, and motivation necessary to successfully carry out this project.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Strategic combinations to overcome therapeutic resistance and relapse in acute myeloid leukemia

Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology

Dr. Yubin Zhou is a professor of Translational Cancer Research at the Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology. He is interested in pioneering chemical and synthetic biology approaches to interrogate tumorigenesis, and developing targeted therapeutics for hematological malignancies. Dr. Zhou received his medical training/internship in internal medicine (1998-2003), and earned his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry/Virology (2008) from Georgia State University. He thereafter received his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School (2008-2010) and then worked as an instructor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology/UCSD (2010-2012). Dr. Zhou was the recipient of the Blood Cancer United Fellow Award, Special Fellow Award, the TAMU Research Excellence Award, the ACS Research Scholar Award, and the Presidential Impact Fellow, Protégé member the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science & Technology, and elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Development of mutant GTPase-specific degraders for peripheral T cell lymphoma treatment

Mayo Clinic

Dr. Thomas Witzig received the B.S. degree in biology at Illinois State University and the M.D. degree at University of Illinois College of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Iowa followed by a clinical fellowship in hematology/oncology at Mayo Clinic.  He completed a year of laboratory research in multiple myeloma and lymphoma under the direction of Drs. Philip Greipp and Robert A. Kyle.  Dr. Witzig has been on the staff at Mayo Clinic since 1986. 

 Dr. Witzig’s clinical and research interests focus on blood cancers, especially non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma. His current focus is on agents that interfere with the DNA damage repair pathways and understanding the role of maladaptive inflammation in lymphoproliferative diseases. He has been a leader in the development of radioimmunotherapy, mTOR inhibitors, and immunomodulatory drugs such as lenalidomide.  His group was the first to report the effectiveness rituximab for the autoimmune diseases that are IgG4 mediated and involve organs such as the orbit and pancreas. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Predolin Foundation, among other organizations.  During COVID-19 his lab discovered one of the mechanisms that the COVID-19 virus uses to cause severe disease. This is now being investigated in patients with Long COVID-19. Dr. Witzig has been honored with several awards during his career, including the Department of Medicine Outstanding Investigator, the Henry S. Plummer Distinguished Physician, and most recently the Barbara Woodward Lips Professor 1.

He has served as a teacher and mentor and has given numerous international, national and regional presentations, in addition to invited presentations.  Dr. Witzig has co-authored more than 500 articles, books, book chapters, letters, and more than 600 abstracts.

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

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

Stanford University

Yang Feng, PhD, is a postdoc scholar at Stanford University. She conducted research at Georgetown University and completed her doctoral training in Guryanova lab at the University of Florida (UF). Her PhD thesis work depicted the causal relationship of DNMT3A-mutant blood cells on aggressive solid tumors for the first time. She studies the preventive therapy for high-risk TP53-mutant AML with primary human samples during postdoc training in Majeti Lab. She has a track of record of publications on high-impact journals including Cancer Discovery. Her exemplary work merited the UF Outstanding Achievement Award and Predoctoral Award in 2020, ASH Abstract Achievement Award in 2021, Stanford PRISM Award in 2022 and the “Best of Year” Award of JEM in 2023, Stanford TRAM Pilot Grant for 2023-2025 and ASH Abstract Achievement Award in 2025. Her career goal is becoming an independent investigator in hematological malignancy research, to discover effective therapeutics for blood cancers.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Therapeutic potential of DOCK1 inhibition in preventing and treating TP53-mutant AML

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Carrasco earned his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Chile. Motivated by his desire to practice medicine at the highest level, he immigrated to the USA and pursued a residency in anatomic pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital followed by a fellowship in hematopathology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In recognition to his research accomplishments in the field of multiple myeloma (MM) during his postdoctoral training he was recruited to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to develop an independent laboratory research program in MM. Dr. Carrasco is current Professor in Pathology at Harvard Medical School. His principal area of excellence is laboratory and clinical investigation focusing on understanding the roles of the Wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway in MM pathogenesis, with the threefold intent of (i) identifying novel therapeutic targets, (ii) developing novel targeted therapies, and (iii) developing animal models for preclinical and clinical intervention.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Developing selective inhibitors of the b-catenin/BCL9 transcriptional complex for myeloma therapy

Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Maxson is an assistant professor in the Knight Cancer Institute, where she investigates the cellular and molecular changes that cause myeloid leukemias. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Scripps College and then completed her Ph.D. in Cell Biology in the area of protein trafficking and processing. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Drs. Jeff Tyner and Brian Druker, she integrated genomic and functional screening data to identify novel therapeutic targets in leukemia. Notably, Dr. Maxson identified mutations in CSF3R in the vast majority of patients with chronic neutrophilic leukemia. She discovered that these mutations confer sensitivity to JAK inhibitors, which resulted in a clinical trial for these patients. The Maxson laboratory works to understand how genomic changes manifest at the cellular level to promote cancer formation and progression. Her long-term goal is to use this understanding to develop lifesaving treatments for patients with leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting the interplay between signaling and transcriptional dysfunction in myeloid leukemias

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Dr Dhodapkar is a physician-scientist with expertise in clinical/translational research in cancer immunology/dendritic cell (DC) biology and in immunobiology of myeloma (MM) and related diseases. Following training in immunology in the lab of Nobel Laureate (Late) Ralph Steinman, Dhodapkar lab has been focused on studies of immunobiology of myeloma and cancer immunology. His clinical practice has been focused on patients with myeloma for past 20+ years. He carried the earliest studies of adoptive human DC transfer and in vivo targeting of human DCs. His laboratory has made several seminal contributions to MM biology and cancer immunology. In terms of clinical research in MM, he has led several clinical studies, including the first clinical studies that led to the discovery of anti-myeloma effects of thalidomide (UArk98-003), first US national cooperative group studies in precursor gammopathies(S0120), AL amyloidosis(S9826) and co-led the first phase III studies (E3A06) showing successful prevention of clinical MM. He has served on several panels for clinical guidelines, including as lead for SITC clinical immunotherapy guidelines panel for myeloma. He has co-led the cancer immunology programs at Yale and Emory for the past decade. His work has been cited >34K times with h-index 87. Relevant to the current proposal, he/his group has played a major role in clinical development of T-cell engagers as well as IMiDs in MM, developed the first genetically-humanized model for myeloma and provided new insights into spatial immunology.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

Pilot trial of microbial targeting to prevent myeloma