Who We Fund

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

The University of Melbourne

Professor Ricky Johnstone received his PhD from the University of Melbourne (UoM) in 1993 and after studying as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School established the Gene Regulation Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 2000. Promoted to Full Professor at UoM in 2011 he has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers. In addition to running his own laboratory, he is now the Executive Director of Cancer Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre overseeing ~700 staff and students. In 2015 he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and in 2020 he was named by PLOS Biology as in the top 0.14% of authors for his research subfield of Oncology & Carcinogenesis.

Prof Johnstone is a cancer researcher who has utilized genetic mouse models of leukemia and lymphoma to understand the epigenetic changes that underpin tumor onset and progression and to develop new therapies for clinical trial.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Dissecting the biology and exploiting the dependency of myeloma cells on P300/CBP

City of Hope National Medical Center

Dr. Siddiqi is an associate professor in the Department of Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Director of the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) program at COH. As an active member of the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center and the Immunotherapy Center at COH, she has been the institutional and, for some studies, national principal investigator of many phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials involving novel targeted therapies and cellular therapeutics such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in CLL and non-Hodgkin lymphomas. She works closely with Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP), cooperative groups, and pharmaceutical companies on important clinical trials in order to bring novel, potentially lifesaving, therapeutics to our patients. As of June 1, 2021, she will be the Lymphoma Medical Director at the Irvine campus, set up open August 2022, which puts her in an ideal position to open impactful hematology clinical trials at CAN sites, starting with Orange county.

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

Establishing Hematology Clinical Trial Hubs within the City of Hope Community and Affiliate Network

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

Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope

Jianhua Yu, PhD, is a Professor and Founding Director of the Natural Killer (NK) Cell Research Program at City of Hope. Dr. Yu is internationally recognized for his fundamental contributions in understanding NK cell biology. Dr. Yu published pioneer studies on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) NK cells as early as 2013. Dr. Yu’s team developed a process to engineer NK cells including those possessing a CAR for “off-the-shelf” clinical use. Dr. Yu also makes significant contributions to oncolytic virotherapy and conducts CAR-T cell research. Dr. Yu holds over 20 patents (awarded or pending) on his research that are highly applicable to the clinic, some of which are licensed to pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Yu has over 200 peer-reviewed publications with nearly 14,000 citations to date, notably senior-author ones on original studies in high-impact journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Immunology, Cancer Discovery, Immunity, etc. Dr. Yu was a scholar of LLS and ACS and the recipient of the Jack Latham Innovative Research Award from the National Blood Foundation.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

All-in-one for myeloma: a single therapy to combine CAR T cells and bispecific antibodies to engage both innate and adaptive immune responses

University of California, San Diego

Dr. Leslie Crews is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSD with a passion for stem cell biology and translational cancer research. She received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a PhD in Molecular Pathology from UCSD. During her postdoctoral training in leukemia and myeloma research, Dr. Crews and her collaborators discovered that the interferon-responsive RNA editing gene ADAR1 is hyper-activated in myeloma and that this molecule promotes disease progression and drug resistance by activating stem cell regulatory pathways. Since starting her independent laboratory in 2017 as a member of the Division of Regenerative Medicine and the Moores Cancer Center, the primary focus of the Crews Laboratory has been on multiple myeloma translational research. Her ongoing work aims to delve deeper into the molecular mechanisms of myeloma initiation and progression, with the goal of identifying novel, more selective therapies to treat individuals with this incurable cancer.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Inflammation-responsive mechanisms of malignant stem cell generation and eradication in multiple myeloma

Emory University

I am a cancer biologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine. I am a recipient of the Lexie Clayton Impact Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My research focus includes understanding how metabolic states regulate specific cancer hallmarks such as the evasion of cell death; proliferation and growth; and invasion and metastasis to identify targetable metabolic vulnerabilities. We have an interest in investigating how mitochondrial metabolism impacts multiple myeloma therapy efficacy and more recently are examining how the bone marrow niche is regulated by neural signaling. My research lab comprised of talented scientist trainees, who in collaboration with the Winship team of multiple myeloma physicians and scientists are endeavoring to ask provocative and innovative questions for curing multiple myeloma.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Deciphering the metabolic basis for t(11;14) multiple myeloma venetoclax sensitivity

Investigating anti-neoplastic effects of beta blockers in multiple myeloma