Who We Fund

TAP Partner

Dimericon is a private biotech company focused on exploring crosslinked helix dimers (Dimericons) as therapeutics and templates for small molecule development. Dimericon’s technology targets hard-to-drug intracellular protein-protein interactions using rationally designed mimetics of helix dimers. The Seed round of financing will support preclinical studies to further develop the current cFLIP inhibitor lead compound, DMRX1004, to be an IND ready clinical candidate in hematological malignancies.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

Supporting development of dimericons (crosslinked helix dimers) for blood cancers

Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Teresa Palomero is a molecular and cellular biologist. She is a Professor at Columbia University in the Institute for Cancer Genetics. Her laboratory focuses on the identification of molecular alterations responsible for the development of Peripheral T-cell lymphomas, a heterogeneous group of very aggressive lymphoid malignances. Dr. Palomero has been a pioneer in the genomic analysis of Peripheral T-cell lymphoma cases and in the development of mouse models for better understanding the evolution of the disease and test novel therapeutic agents. Her extensive work on hematologic malignancies has led to the identification of key genomic alterations in leukemia and lymphoma including some currently used for molecular diagnosis.

Dr. Palomero scientific work has been published in top tier scientific journals including Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine and Cancer Cell, among others.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Targeting Microenvironment Determinants in Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma

Universite de Lausanne

Nicola Vannini after his MSc degree in Biological Sciences obtained at the University of Parma, moved to La Jolla (CA) where he worked for two years at the Burnham Institute in the laboratory of Prof. John C. Reed studying the metabolic basis of cardiac aging. He completed his PhD at the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genova (Italy) under the supervision of Prof. Adriana Albini, where he worked on nutritional interventions to prevent tumor progression. After his PhD he moved to EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) in the laboratory directed by Prof. Matthias Lütolf and Prof. Olaia Naveiras at the EPFL, where he developed targeted metabolic interventions to boost hematopoietic recovery.

Since March 2016 Nicola Vannini is group leader at the Ludwig Cancer Institute at the University of Lausanne . His primary research goals are the understanding of metabolic changes occurring during aging in the hematopoietic and immune compartments and their impact on cancer immunotherapy.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Mitochondrial reprogramming to restore age-driven dysfunction in T cell and boost CAR-T cell therapy

TAP Partner

Dren Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases. Dren Bio’s pipeline encompasses two distinct programs, the first focusing on the engineering of antibodies with enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (“ADCC”) capabilities and the second revolving around its proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

A phase 1/2 study of DR-01, an anti-CD94 monoclonal antibody, in patients with large granular lymphocytic leukemia or cytotoxic lymphomas

The Regents of the University of California, San Diego

Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD is a leading physician-scientist in the cancer stem cell biology field. She is a professor of medicine, the Koman Family Presidential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, deputy director of the Moores Cancer Center and the director of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Jamieson is the director of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Alpha Stem Cell Clinic at UCSD, which provides infrastructure to accelerate the bench to bedside development and implementation of cancer stem cell targeted and cellular immunotherapy trials for hematologic and other malignancies. Dr. Jamieson’s discoveries and pioneering cancer stem cell research have informed the development of cancer stem cell targeted therapies, including JAK2 and sonic hedgehog inhibitor trials, which resulted in two FDA approvals for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and leukemia

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Detection and Targeting of Enzymatic Base Editing Deregulation in Leukemia Stem Cells

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

The molecular mechanisms of cell proliferation and the field of Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS) have always been our main area of interest and fascination. We have the expertise, training and motivation necessary to study several different aspects of this incredibly broad field. Specifically, the training in mechanistic science, including molecular biology, biochemistry, cell/animal biology, has laid the groundwork to understand how ubiquitin ligases complexes monitor the molecular mechanisms in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Our work has identified and studied multiple key factors regulating cellular pathways, such as DNA-damage checkpoints, cell cycle, circadian clock, Toll-like-Receptor and NF-κB activation, as documented in ours publications. In addition, we have successfully collaborated with several scientists, and contributed to peer-reviewed publications from each of these projects.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Relevance of ubiquitin dependent proteolysis in Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Dr. Dusetzina is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and an Ingram associate professor of cancer research at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and post-doctoral training at the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard. She is a health services researcher focusing on the intersection between health policy, epidemiology, and economics related to prescription drugs. Dr. Dusetzina’s work has contributed to the evidence base for the role of drug costs on patient access to care and policy changes that might improve patient access and reduce spending on high-priced drugs, including those used to treat cancer. She has been recognized for her work at a national level, including being an invited participant for two working group meetings on “Patient Access to Affordable Cancer Drugs,” hosted by the President’s Cancer Panel, and being selected to co-author a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on the same topic. Dr. Dusetzina was recently appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and is engaged in national policy related to access to care for Medicare beneficiaries. Dr. Dusetzina will co-direct the project with Dr. Nicholas, who has considerable experience using the Health and Retirement Study to assess economic effects of health.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Making the Right Choice: Medicare Plan Selection and Access to Cancer Care

University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Rubenstein is an internationally recognized authority on the research and treatment of patients with primary and secondary CNS lymphoma. He has led or co-led multiple innovative multi-center phase I and II clinical trials that have impacted clinical management guidelines, including studies of novel induction strategies, immunomodulatory drugs, intraventricular rituximab therapy and dose intensive consolidation. He has led multiple studies on the biology of CNS lymphoma involving tumor diagnostic specimens, preclinical models as well as pioneering studies using novel technologies to gain insights into the brain tumor microenvironment. His studies on CNS lymphoma have been consistently published in high impact journals for nearly two decades and he has been the principal investigator of multiple NCI grants focused on this disease. He has mentored ~40 trainees, many of whom are now focused on the treatment of lymphoma patients in the academic setting.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

TAP Partner

BioInvent International AB is a clinical-stage biotech company that discovers and develops novel and first-in-class immuno-modulatory antibodies for cancer therapy, with currently four drug candidates in five ongoing clinical programs in Phase 1/2 trials for the treatment of hematological cancer and solid tumors, respectively. The Company's validated, proprietary F.I.R.S.T™ technology platform identifies both targets and the antibodies that bind to them, generating many promising new drug candidates to fuel the Company's own clinical development pipeline and providing licensing and partnering opportunities.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

A phase 1/2 study of BI-1206, a monoclonal antibody to CD32b (FcyRIIB), in combination with rituximab in patients with indolent NHL that has relapsed or is refractory to rituximab

A phase 1/2 study of BI-1808, a monoclonal antibody to TNFR2, as a single agent and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with solid tumors and CTCL

The Ohio State University

I am a tenured Professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University, with a focus on translational research in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, the Associate Director for Clinical Research within the Division of Hematology, the Section Head for the CLL/Hairy cell leukemia group, and the co-leader of the Leukemia Research Program within the OSUCCC. I am the PI for multiple early-stage clinical trials investigating novel targeted therapies for CLL and other hematologic malignancies, chaired the intergroup Phase III study A041202 which investigated chemoimmunotherapy versus targeted therapy as initial therapy for older adults with CLL, and now chair A041702 which is investigating continuous versus intermittent targeted therapy in the same patient population. My laboratory research focuses on resistance to targeted therapies in CLL. Our group identified C481S and PLCG2 mutations as the primary resistance mechanisms for covalent BTK inhibitors and were the first to investigate reversible BTK inhibitors preclinically as a strategy to circumvent BTK inhibitor resistance.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Overcoming BTK Inhibitor Resistance in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Inhibition of PKCβ as a strategy for BTK inhibitor refractory CLL

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

I am a pediatric oncologist, who is interested in using the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. I grew up in Germany and moved to the US in 1992 after obtaining my medical degree. After completing my training in pediatric and oncology, I became faculty at the Cancer Center of Texas Children’s Hospital and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine. In the laboratory I focused on developing immune cell therapies for cancer patients, which I translated with my research team into the clinic. In addition, I managed pediatric cancer patients, who underwent bone marrow transplantation, and participated in numerous clinical studies. In 2017 I became Chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The department focuses on evaluating novel transplant and cell therapy approaches using genetic engineering approaches to augment the ability of the immune system to fight cancer.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

CD70-directed CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of relapsed/refractory pediatric AML

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Nicoletta Cieri is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Before joining DFCI, Nicoletta obtained her MD degree summa cum laude and mention of honor, PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Clinical Specialization in Hematology summa cum laude from San Raffaele University, Italy, in 2010, 2014 and 2020, respectively. Nicoletta's research interests include genomics, proteomics, immunology and gene therapy applied to the field of onco-hematology. She is committed to define how to manipulate the immune response to recognize and eradicate hematological malignancies, while mitigating detrimental effects such as graft-versus-host disease, off-target toxicities and immune overactivation. Honors include Jon J. Van Rood Award and Basic Science Award from the European Bone Marrow Transplantation Society, Mundipharma Hematology Award from the Italian Society of Hematology, AACR-Incyte Immuno-Oncology Research Fellowship, and Helen Gurley Brown Fellowship.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

TCR-like CARs targeting GvL mHAgs for the treatment of post-transplant AML relapse