Who We Fund

University of Florida

Jonathan D. Licht, MD, is the Director of the University of Florida Health Cancer Institute, leading it to become the 72nd NCI-designated center in the country. Dr. Licht’s laboratory studies the role of abnormal function of histone methyltransferases and demethylases in malignancies such as multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia and recently described a new class of mutations in histones in cancer. NCI funded for nearly 35 years, Dr. Licht is also Principal Investigator of a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) Specialized Center of Research, now in its 17th year of funding. He is the founding Editor- in-Chief of Blood Neoplasia, a new journal of the American Society of Hematology, and serves on the editorial boards of Cancer Research, Oncogene and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Licht was the first chair of the AACR Taskforce on Hematological Malignancies of and currently is Chair of the Medical/Scientific Board of the LLS. Dr. Licht has published more than 230 articles, reviews and book chapters and has mentored over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and 20 faculty members.

Program Name(s)

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Epigenetic Mechanisms and Targeting in Hematological Malignancy

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Garfall is a hematologist-oncologist specializing in the care of multiple myeloma patients and research on new multiple myeloma therapies. He is a member of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is an Assistant Professor of Medicine. Dr. Garfall completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University, medical school at New York University, residency in internal medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and hematology/oncology fellowship at Penn. Dr. Garfall’s research focuses on immunotherapy. He has conducted clinical trials with CAR T cells and bispecific antibodies for multiple myeloma. He is specifically interested on developing new approaches to prevent relapse in multiple myeloma patients.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Limited-duration bispecific antibody therapy for multiple myeloma

Anti-Sox2 immunotherapy to prevent multiple myeloma relapse

Houston Methodist Research Institute

My research focuses on the translation of bench works into new therapeutic approaches/strategies for multiple myeloma and other blood cancers. One of my research goals is to study the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of myeloma and its associated tumor microenvironment. I have been investigating the interaction of myeloma cells with bone marrow adipocytes, bone cells, and the signaling pathways associated with obesity, inflammation, chemo-, immune-therapeutic resistance, and bone disease, which are the major hurdles in treating myeloma. As a PI, I have managed many projects funded by extramural grants, private funds, and industry alliances. Some highlights include the NIH/NCI R01s and funding received from ASH and ACS. I have an excellent publication track record with peer-review articles that are in top-tier journals with high impact factors (e.g. Cell Metabolism, Science Translational Medicine, Cancer Cell). My research experience shows my capacity to be a PI for this Project.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 to remodel obesity-evoked inflammatory microenvironment in myeloma

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Robert Orlowski, the Principal Investigator of this proposal, serves as the Florence Maude Thomas Cancer Research Professor and Director of the Myeloma Section at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and is the Deputy Chair of the Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma. Also, Dr. Orlowski serves as the Chair of the SWOG Barlogie/Salmon Myeloma Committee, which is part of the National Clinical Trials Network that conducts studies to advance novel therapies for myeloma, and to expand our understanding of its biology. In the laboratory arena, Dr. Orlowski is a physician scientist whose focus has been on bench-to-bedside research that develops and validates novel therapies to improve patient outcomes, and focuses on drug resistance mechanisms that may serve as predictive biomarkers for response. His past work has included leading roles in the development of the proteasome inhibitors bortezomib and carfilzomib, as well as the monoclonal antibodies daratumumab and elotuzumab.

Program Name(s)

Specialized Center of Research Program

Translational Research Program

Project Title

SCOR in High-Risk Plasma Cell Dyscrasias

Targeting HSP70 to Immune Effector Cells to Overcome the Immune Suppressive Myeloma Microenvironment

Emory University

Lawrence Boise, PhD is the R. Randall Rollins Chair of Oncology and Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology in the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Boise also serves as the Associate Director of Education and Training in the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He received his PhD from VCU-Medicine and did his postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. Dr. Boise took his first faculty position at the University of Miami in 1996 and rose to the rank of Professor before moving to Emory in 2009. Dr. Boise was involved in early studies to identify genes that control cell survival and cell death and has been studying these processes to better understand how to improve our treatment of cancer, particularly the plasma cell malignancy multiple myeloma. Dr. Boise serves as a Senior Editor at Molecular Cancer Research and is on the editorial board of Blood Cancer Discovery.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Functional dissection of heterogeneity of responses to CAR T cells using Spatiotemporal Image-guided Genomic and Cellular Analysis (SaGA) in myeloma

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois

Caroline Arber obtained her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and specialized in Internal Medicine and Hematology, with a focus on hematologic malignancies and stem cell transplant. To dive into the T cell engineering field, she moved to the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, USA, where she was a research fellow (2010-2014) and an Assistant Professor (2014-2017). Since 2017 she is an Associate Professor, Research Group leader and Attending Physician at the Lausanne University Hospital, University of Lausanne and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne, Switzerland. She leads a translational research group investigating novel T cell engineering strategies for hematologic malignancies. She also studies the impact of the bone marrow immune microenvironment on outcomes of CAR T cell therapies in myeloma. She has published several last author papers in journals such as Blood, JITC, Cancer Immunology Research, Science Advances.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Designed biosensor to enhance CAR T cell therapy for multiple myeloma