Research We Fund

The field of cancer treatment has made remarkable progress with the adoption of targeted therapy; however, small molecule drugs have limitations such as drug resistance and off-target toxicities. To overcome these challenges, we have developed an innovative approach that enhances the potency and precision of small molecule drugs. Our cutting-edge high-precision pretargeted nanoparticles can deliver potent triple inhibitors that effectively combat drug-resistant mantle cell lymphoma and dual proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) for treatment of transformed follicular lymphoma. Our proposal is supported by extensive preliminary data, and we are excited to be at the forefront of this revolutionary novel treatment strategy.

The goal of our laboratory is to discover, study, and the translate new leukemia therapies to the clinic. In this project, we are studying a signaling pathway, called PI3 kinase gamma, that we believe is important in patients with AML and might lead to new treatments using drugs that target its activity.

CAR-T cells are made from a patient’s own immune cells, altered so that they specifically recognize and kill the patient’s cancer cells. They are effective in many but not all cases of B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), among other blood cancers. In this proposal we seek to better understand ways to select T cells that will make better CAR-T cells as well as to treat CAR T cells them in ways to make them work better in the cancer patient.

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas are highly aggressive blood cancer that have very poor survival rate, highlighting the need for new therapies to improve patient survival. We aim to improve our understanding of the characteristics of the individual cancer cells and their interaction with surrounding cells in the tumor environment with the goal of identifying new drugs that we can validate in preclinical models and move into more efficient treatments for lymphoma patients.