Francesco Forconi, MD, PhD, DM, FRCPath
Southampton,
United Kingdom
University of Southampton
Professor Francesco Forconi is a leading clinician-scientist at the University of Southampton, UK. Internationally recognized for his clinical and scientific work on B-cell cancers, including HCL. He leads the Southampton designated Center of Excellence for HCL and contributes to UK and international guidelines on HCL diagnosis and management. He leads the Cancer B-cell Group, investigating novel therapeutic approaches against the survival signals mediated by the essential B-cell receptor and BCL2 in B-cell cancers, including HCL. He is the UK lead for the CRUK ECRIN-M3 consortium on early cancer interception. With over 180 peer-reviewed publications, Francesco has spearheaded numerous interventional and observational clinical trials and collaborates closely with patient advocacy groups to enhance care and data platforms. His leadership spans academic, clinical, and policy domains, including roles in NICE appraisals, editorial boards, and cancer science forums.
Program Name(s)
Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma
Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Initiative
Project Title
Arnon Haran, MD
Denver, CO
United States
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
Dr. Arnon Haran is a physician-scientist specializing in hematology and blood cancers. He earned his M.D. from Tel Aviv University and completed residency training in internal medicine at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, where he was selected for the institution’s prestigious physician-scientist program. He then pursued a fellowship in hematology, during which he developed a strong interest in cancer metabolism. Dr. Haran is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado in the laboratory of Prof. Craig Jordan. His research focuses on understanding how leukemia cells use metabolic pathways to survive therapy and cause relapse, with the goal of developing smarter, more targeted therapies for patients with blood cancers.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Jennifer Trowbridge
aging and leukemia
Jennifer Trowbridge, PhD
Bar Harbor, ME
United States
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
Scott Lowe, PhD
New York, NY
United States
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
Karim-Jean Armache, PhD
New York, NY
United States
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Karim-Jean Armache, PhD, is the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Biochemistry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His research focuses on the mechanistic basis of chromatin regulation, with emphasis on Polycomb and Trithorax group complexes, histone modifications, and the epigenetic control of gene expression. Using integrative approaches spanning structural biology, chemical biology, biochemistry, and cell biology, Dr. Armache’s lab has uncovered fundamental mechanisms of key chromatin‐modifying enzymes and identified new therapeutic opportunities in cancer and developmental disorders.
Program Name(s)
Discovery
Project Title
Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Aberrant Histone Deubiquitination in Leukemia
Huda Salman
CMML
Huda Salman, MD
Indianapolis, IN
United States
Indiana Universty
My clinical and research interest is to develop therapies that enhance the immune system to fight blood cancer. I serve as the IND holder responsible for the clinical development for the CD4CAR , and the CAR T cells are manufactured under this IND and the GMP conditions at Indiana University. This work is done in collaboration with IcellGene therapeutics. It is designed to treat T cell leukemia and lymphoma. We have treated three patients so far and results were very promising. CD4, the target for this CAR is expressed on CMML and we are not only planning to try this CAR in CMML, but we will be studying mechanisms of response and resistance to this treatment as we go, and also improving on the structure of this CAR to be more effective with the goal of curing CMML.
Program Name(s)
CMML Initiative
Project Title
Development of cellular therapy for CMML and the Immune landscape of response and resistance
Catherine Bollard
pediatric blood cancers and immunotherapy
Catherine Bollard, MD
Washington, DC
United States
Children's Research Institute
Dr. Bollard received her medical degree at the University of Otago. She is board certified both in pediatrics and hematology. She is currently the Bosworth Chair for Cancer Biology, the Director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, and the Director of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy (CETI) at Children’s National Health System. She is a Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington University and the Associate Center Director for Translational Research and Innovation at the GW Cancer Center. Dr. Bollard is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and is the current President of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). She is currently Editor in Chief of Blood Advances. She has over 200 peer reviewed publications. Her bench and translational research focuses on improving outcomes for patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and on the development of novel cell therapies for cancer and virus-associated diseases.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
T cells with native and chimeric receptors against multiple tumor targets for acute myeloid leukemia
Caribou Biosciences
immunotherapy, allo-CAR, NHL, MM
Caribou Biosciences
Berkeley, CA
United States
TAP Partner
Caribou is a clinical-stage biotechnology company, co-founded by CRISPR pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., using next-generation CRISPR genome-editing technology to develop “off-the-shelf” (allogeneic) CAR therapies for hard-to-treat blood cancers.
Program Name(s)
Therapy Acceleration Program
Project Title
Jeetayu Biswas
splicing in myeloid diseases
Jeetayu Biswas, MD, PhD
New York, NY
United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
I am an MD/PhD physician scientist in the oncology fellowship at MSKCC where I treat leukemia and perform research to understand molecular underpinnings of the disease. My prior work at Brandeis University, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Harvard Medical School, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine was focused on basic mechanisms of gene expression regulation and I am now studying RNA dysregulation in leukemia. During my PhD, I developed novel methods to study RNA binding proteins in collaboration with Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Rosbash and Rosenstiel Prize winner Dr. Robert H Singer (my PhD mentor). This integrative approach to studying RNA is ideal for understanding understudied proteins that regulate splicing factor mutations in the Abdel-Wahab lab. For my career, I aim to use novel approaches to understand how the most prevalent splicing factor mutations in blood cancers drive progression and transformation.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Targeting SF3B1 splicing factor mutant myeloid malignancies through dependency on GPATCH8
Catherine Diefenbach
DLBCL immunology
Catherine Diefenbach, MD
New York, NY
United States
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
I am a translational lymphoma researcher and associate professor at the NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center (PCC). My research focuses on the relationship between lymphoma, microenvironment, and systemic immunity. I lead an R01 funded study of the microbiome in DLBCL, and and serve as PI on a multi-investigator R01 investigating new immune strategies for CAR T cells. I have presented data on immune profiling in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) at national and international meetings. Clinically, I have led the effort to integrate immune based approaches into lymphoma therapy, through development of the intergroup Phase 2 protocol E4412 combining brentuximab, nivolumab, and ipilimumab in relapsed HL. I have obtained funding for my research from: the NCI, the ACS, the Lymphoma Research Foundation, Doris Duke (internally awarded), and the NCI Clinical Investigator Team Leader Award for my work with ECOG-ACRIN. My expertise in lymphoma immunology makes me well qualified to lead this current project.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
T cell Memory in Cure of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma: An Investigation of the Immune Interactome
Julia Paczkowska
immunobiology of Hodgkin's disease
Julia Paczkowska, PhD
Boston, MA
United States
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Julia Paczkowska completed her master’s degree in pharmacy at Poznan University of Medical Science, Poland. Thereafter, she obtained her PhD in medical sciences from the Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, with a thesis focusing on deregulated transcription factors and microRNAs in the pathogenesis of classic Hodgkin lymphoma. After obtaining her degree, she began her post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Margaret Shipp at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr. Paczkowska’s postdoctoral research focuses on the immunobiology of classic Hodgkin lymphoma and related B-cell malignancies.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Suman Paul
T cell cancers and immunotherapy
Suman Paul, MBBS PhD
Baltimore,
United States
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
I am an assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where I treat patients suffering from leukemias and lymphomas. In my clinical practice, I experience firsthand the lack of treatment options and the poor outcomes in patients with relapsed T cell leukemias and T cell lymphomas. Therefore, my laboratory research focuses on the development of new therapies for the treatment of these T cell cancers. Using my background in T cell biology (Paul et al Immunity 2012, Paul et al Science Signaling 2014) and my collaborators expertise in antibody design, I developed therapies that selectively kill T cell cancers and spare the majority of normal T cells (Paul et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 2021). My goal is to conduct the preclinical validation of the T cell cancer targeting therapies so they can be tested in patients through early phase clinical trials. We hope that our novel therapies will provide new treatment options and improve survival in patients with T cell leukemias and lymphomas.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
TCR-directed immunotoxins and antibody drug conjugates for the treatment of T cell malignancies