Who We Fund

Weill Cornell Medicine

John P. Leonard, MD, is the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Senior Associate Dean for Innovation and Initiatives at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is Executive Vice Chairman of the Weill Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.  Dr. Leonard’s research has been published in numerous medical journals, and he has served as a member of the editorial boards of Blood and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, leading international journals in these fields. He is Chair of the Lymphoma Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a multicenter cooperative group and key component of the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Leonard’s primary research interest is in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of lymphoma and related hematologic malignancies, and he has lectured at major international meetings on these topics. He also has studied prognostic, imaging and survivorship issues for lymphoma patients.

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

BRIDGE (Blood cancer Research Initiative Developing Greater Engagement) with community patients

The University of Melbourne

Professor Jane Oliaro is an internationally recognized cancer immunologist motivated to translate scientific discoveries into the clinic. Her research experience spans the fields of T cell biology and tumor immunology, with a focus on the application of new technology to identify novel therapies to enhance immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. She has a proven track record of undertaking successful collaborative research leading to high quality publications in influential journals including Science, Immunity, Science Immunology; successful funding and awards (including 9 CIA project grants, NHMRC fellowship, NHMRC ‘Ten of the Best’ Research Project Award and NHMRC Inaugural Achievement Award) and over 15 conference invitations in the past 5 years. As Chief Scientist for the Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy Translation Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, she leads a preclinical program focused on the development of novel cell-based immunotherapies for translation into pilot clinical trials.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Improving CAR-T cell therapy outcomes for patients with for aggressive lymphoma and multiple myeloma

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

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

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Chengcheng “Alec” Zhang, Morton H. Sanger Professorship in Oncology and Michael L. Rosenberg Scholar for Biomedical Research at UT Southwestern, earned his B.S. from University of Science and Technology of China and Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After postdoctoral training at Harvey Lodish’s lab of Whitehead Institute, he established his lab at UT Southwestern in 2007. He is studying the signaling and function of immune surface molecules (including leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor family B, or LILRBs) in hematopoietic cells and developing novel therapies for treatment of hematologic malignancies and other cancers. He published >109 peer-reviewed articles, and was a recipient of several awards, including American Society of Hematology Junior Faculty Scholar Award and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar Award. Two anti-LILRB blocking antibodies developed by the team are in phase 1 clinical trials for treatment of myeloid leukemia and solid cancers.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Development of LILRB1-based immunotherapy for multiple myeloma treatment

The University of Texas at Austin

William Matsui is a Professor of Oncology, Director of the Hematologic Malignancy Program, Associate Chair of Research, and the Deputy Director of the LiveSTRONG Cancer Institutes at the Dell Medical School and the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as the interim Vice Dean of Research for Dell Med. Dr. Matsui's research has focused on understanding the intersection between cancer, stem cell, and developmental biology. His laboratory first identified unique populations of cancer cells with stem cell properties in multiple myeloma and found that several pathways regulating normal stem cells, including those involved in embryonic development, are abnormally activated in cancer stem cells. Importantly, these basic research studies have simultaneously been translationally relevant and served as the basis for over a dozen novel clinical trials.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Stem cell features and Notch signaling in p53 deleted multiple myeloma

The University of Melbourne

Dr. Lev Kats is head of the Targeted Therapeutics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He completed his PhD at Monash University and postdoctoral training at Beth Israel Deaconess Centre/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kats has made major contributions in the areas of targeted therapies, epigenetics and hematological malignancies including through discovery of important functions of cancer promoting genes and the characterization of the molecular mechanisms of anti-leukemic drugs. His laboratory uses model systems, functional and molecular genomics approaches to develop and test new therapeutic strategies for aggressive blood cancers.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting DCAF1 as a novel treatment strategy for therapy resistant multiple myeloma

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

A phase 1 study of CB-010, a CRISPR-edited allogeneic CAR-T targeting CD19, in patients with B-cell NHL

A phase 1 study of CB-011, a CRISPR-edited allogeneic CAR-T targeting BCMA, in patients with multiple myeloma

Supporting allogeneic CD371 (CLL-1) CAR development for acute myeloid leukemia

University of Miami

Dr Walker is currently at the University of Miami where is a research Professor in the Division of Myeloma and is also the SWOG Myeloma Committee Chair of Translational Medicine. Most of his work has revolved around utilizing primary patient material with a range of techniques including gene expression and mapping arrays to next generation sequencing technologies to identify the genetic determinants that can be used to sub-classify myeloma. These determinants include common copy number abnormalities, somatic mutations and gene expression profiles which can be used to risk stratify patients according to biological criteria, which in turn can determine the prognosis of the patient. His lab currently employs single-cell technologies, mouse models, and epigenomics to determine the impact and mechanism of action of these abnormalities that drive myeloma pathogenesis.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Genomic and epigenomic interactions of complex structural variants affecting outcome in multiple myeloma

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

University of Florida

Jonathan D. Licht, MD, is the Director of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, 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

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting Enhancer Dysfunction in Hematological Malignancy

Adenylate Kinase 2-A Novel Therapeutic Target in Multiple Myeloma

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