Who We Fund

Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Peter trained at the University of Wales College of Medicine and Cambridge and Oxford Universities in the UK. In 2003 he joined Sheffield University and became joint Director of the Mellanby Center for Bone Research and Head of Department of Human Metabolism. In 2011 Peter joined the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney where he is Director of the Cancer Plasticity and Dormancy program. Peter is an international leader in understanding myeloma bone disease. He discovered key molecular pathways that cause myeloma bone disease. This research contributed to development of bone targeted therapies, including anti-RANKL and zoledronic acid, that are now in routine clinical use globally. Peter’s current research is investigating molecular pathways, including the Wnt pathway and sclerostin, that target osteoblasts, restore lost bone, increase bone strength and stop fractures. He is also investigating the role of bone cells in controlling myeloma cell dormancy and disease relapse.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting the Osteogenic Lineage as a Therapeutic Strategy in Multiple Myeloma

University of Florida

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Christian Marinaccio is a research fellow in Dr. Scott Armstrong laboratory at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. After graduating with a master of science in medical Biotechnology from University of Bari, Italy, he joined the laboratory of John D Crispino at Northwestern University to pursue a PhD in Life Sciences focused on blood malignancies. Under the supervision of Dr. Crispino, his research focused on mechanisms of progression from myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Currently, his research interests lay in the study of mechanisms of fusion protein turnover in KMT2A rearranged leukemias and in the study of leukemic transformation processes at the hematopoietic stem cell level, including cell of origin and clonal dynamics.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Identification and characterization of genetic factors affecting MLL/KMT2A fusion proteins stability in MLL/KMT2A rearranged leukemias

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow with a strong background in malignant hematology research. My work focusses on identifying targetable metabolic vulnerabilities in aggressive leukemias in which effective treatment regimens are limited. I completed my PhD under the mentorship of Professor Ricky Johnstone at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, where I discovered that FLT3-ITD mutations, among the most common in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), promote the biosynthesis of the amino acid serine. Genetic or pharmacological ablation of serine biosynthesis was selectively lethal to FLT3-ITD-mutant AML cells and synergized with cytarabine, the standard of care chemotherapy agent. This work was published in Cancer Discovery in 2021. My postdoctoral work unifies and builds on my interests and expertise in AML model generation and characterization, large-scale genetic screening, transcription, epigenetics, cellular metabolism, and use of in vivo models for therapeutic validation.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Metabolic Regulation of Leukemic Cell Fate

University of Southern California

Dr. Sheng Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Translational Genomics, at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC). She is the Program Co-Leader of Epigenetic Regulation in Cancer (ERC) at the USC NCI-designated Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Li received her PhD in Computational Biology from Cornell University in 2014, where she focused on the epigenome dynamics of leukemia relapse. Following her PhD, she served as an Instructor of Bioinformatics at Weill Cornell Medicine. In 2016, Dr. Li joined the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.

In 2024, her lab transitioned to the USC Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Li leads a research program centered on understanding the impact of somatic mutations and aging on blood cancer initiation by identifying critical epigenetic aberrations that disrupt gene expression regulating hematopoiesis. Her work leverages multi-omics and integrative data mining to study how age-related inflammation shapes the evolutionary trajectories of mutant hematopoietic stem cells in leukemogenesis. The long-term goal of her research is to identify novel therapeutics to mitigate leukemogenesis and extend human health span and life span. Dr. Li recevied NextGen Star Award from American Association for Cancer Research and Maximizing Investigators' Research Award from NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Epigenetic heterogeneity in age-related clonal hematopoiesis and acute myeloid leukemia

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I am a medical oncologist with the Myeloma Service and a member of the Cellular Therapeutics Center and the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. My research focuses on the clinical development of novel immune and cellular therapies for patients with multiple myeloma and translational research focused on better understanding the responses to cellular therapies and possible mechanisms of relapse. I am the principal investigator for multiple chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T trials for multiple myeloma, including the first trials of an allogeneic CAR T cell therapy and autologous GPRC5D CAR T cells for myeloma .

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Improving outcomes with immune therapies for multiple myeloma

Northwestern University

Dr. Jaehyuk Choi is an Associate Professor of Dermatology and of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He received his A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard, and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale. He was a dermatology resident and a post-doctoral fellow in genetics at Yale. Since graduating from medical school, Dr. Choi is the recipient of the NIH New Innovator Award, the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award, the Doris Duke Clinician Scientist Development Award, and is a recent inductee into the American Society for Clinical Investigation.  Dr. Choi is a clinically active physician-scientist with a clinical and scientific focus on T cell lymphomas. His research group is interested in bench-to-bedside approaches to improve clinical care for patients with these diseases. To do so, he investigates the genetic mechanisms that underlie disease pathogenesis. This approach provides important clues as to what makes each patient unique and how to improve treatments for patients.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Identification of novel therapeutic strategies for aggressive subtypes of CTCL

University of Wisconsin at Madison

I have been interested in basic and translational work related to cancer since my master’s resulting in a thesis on bone metastasis of breast cancer. Part of my PhD work explored the molecular mechanisms of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). I have studied the use of metformin, as an anti-cancer agent and demonstrated that metformin through activation of AMPK/ RUNX1/ SOCS3 axis and inhibition of glycolytic fluxes overcomes the imatinib resistance in CML patients. I joined Dr. Jing Zhang’s lab at the University of Wisconsin. Under her guidance, I had a chance to explore the molecular players involved in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with concurrent RAS and ASXL1 mutations, which define one of the worst AML prognosis groups. I have been actively collaborating with numerous investigators on and off campus to work on patient derived xenograft model for pre-clinical development of therapeutic approaches targeting both leukemia cells and suppressed T cells in NRAS; ASXL1 AML.

Project Title

Enhancing the cytotoxicity of T cells in NRAS; ASXL1-AML through combined inhibition of MEK and HDACs

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

I am pursuing a research career that bridges the gap between translational and clinical research in health disparities with a dual focus on genomics and equity. My motivation is to improve outcomes for all children with cancer—particularly children from historically marginalized populations. My long-term goal is to become an independently funded physician scientist leading a multidisciplinary research team. 

In clinic, I take care of children with leukemia and lymphoma. The objective of my research is to better understand the biology of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LL) for children of different ancestral backgrounds. I have done preliminary work in T-ALL which I will build upon and expand to T-LL, which has never been examined with comprehensive sequencing and ancestry. My goal is to prevent more children with these diseases from relapsing. Results from this investigation will lay the groundwork for my career as an independent scientist.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Impact of genetic ancestry on tumor biology and survival outcomes in T-ALL and T-LL

Stanford

Program Name(s)

Dare to Dream

Project Title

Establishing longitudinal outcomes and clinical prognosticators in pediatric and young adult B-ALL after commercially available CD19-CAR T cells

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital

My scientific background involves the functional characterization of rare immune cells called dendritic cells in advanced melanoma patients. These cells are master regulators of immunity and are responsible for orchestrating anti-cancer responses driven by effector cells called T cells. My PhD focused on patients who received immunotherapy via antibodies that reinvigorate the immune system, also known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. I collected patient blood samples before and during treatment, and found that a critical subtype of dendritic cell is numerically and functionally impaired in patients who did not respond to immunotherapy compared to those who responded. In my current lab, I leveraged my experience in immune cell research and now study how a novel drug combination can be used to target and kill acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. This innovative approach targets two biologically important processes within a cell – the protein-making machinery and the control of cell death.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Weill Cornell Medicine

I completed my Ph.D. in pharmacology at Zhejiang University, China, in June 2020, specializing in cancer immunology. My doctoral research provided in-depth training in mouse models, particularly the construction of humanized immune recombinants such as PBMC and CD34-engrafted xenografts for pharmacodynamic studies. I developed skills in in vitro drug screening, immune cell sorting, and animal models, solidifying my expertise in experimental design. Currently, I am conducting research in Dr. Wendy Béguelin's lab, focusing on the role of the tumor microenvironment in B lymphoma progression. I pioneered a multiphoton microscopy approach for real-time imaging of cellular interactions within lymphoid tissues, enabling a detailed view of cellular interactions in lymphoma. Supported by experts from the Béguelin, Chris Xu and Melnick groups, our team leverages advanced murine lymphoma models and deep-tissue imaging techniques.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program