Who We Fund

University of Cincinnati

Eric J. Vick, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist at the University of Cincinnati who studies how blood cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) survive and resist therapy. His research focuses on inflammatory signaling pathways that leukemia cells use to grow, with the goal of identifying new, mechanism-based treatment strategies. His CDP project investigates dependencies created by blocking IRAK4 signaling to uncover vulnerabilities in leukemia stem and progenitor cells.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting Myeloid Malignancies through IRAK4 Synthetic Lethality Dependencies

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

Fondazione Centro San Raffaele

Dr. Matteo Bellone obtained an M.D. degree (with honors) and was Board Certified in Allergology and Clinical Immunology at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. He had a 3-year post-doctoral training at the University of Minnesota working on autoimmunity with Bianca Conti-Fine. Since the early nineties he has been investigating interactions between cancer and immune cells with discoveries leading to several clinical outputs. He is Head of the Cellular Immunology Unit at Ospedale San Raffaele (Milan, Italy), where he also practices as Clinical Immunologist. He is adjunct professor of Immunology at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Associate Editor at Frontiers in Immunology and Frontiers in Oncology, and member of several boards serving scientific journals and charities. He is Secretary and Treasurer of the Network Italiano per la BioTerapia dei Tumori (NIBIT), Council Member of the European Network for Cancer Immunotherapy (ENCI), and member of the SIICA, and the AACR.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Gut microbiota modulation to prevent progression of smoldering multiple myeloma to active disease

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Steve Treon MD, PhD is a Senior Physician and the Director of the Bing Center for Waldenstrom’s Macroglobuliemia (WM) at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was the PI for 17 clinical trials which advanced many of the agents currently used to treat WM. By whole-genome sequencing, his laboratory first identified highly recurring MYD88 mutations in WM patients. Translational work in his laboratory showed that BTK was a downstream target of mutated MYD88, enabling a pivotal trial for which he was the PI that led to the first-ever approval of a drug (ibrutinib) and supported the approval and/or development of other BTK-inhibitors for WM. Dr. Treon’s laboratory also identified other critical pro-survival targets related to mutated MYD88 signaling that include IRAK1 and HCK. With the Harvard Medicinal Chemistry Department, he has pursued development of potent and selective inhibitors targeting HCK and IRAK1 for MYD88 mutated lymphomas.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

Targeting mutated MYD88 pro-survival signaling in B-cell malignancies

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

I am a first-generation college graduate with a Master’s degree in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Biochemistry. My long-term career goal is to lead my own research group focused on understanding key immunological pathways by which the human body fights infection and to develop effective therapies that target blood cancers. During my research career thus far, I have gained a unique repertoire with expertise in chemical biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology with broad knowledge in immunology, cancer biology, and virology. Currently, I am training at the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center under the mentorship of Blossom Damania who is a leader in the fields of viral oncogenesis and viral immunology. As many people have had the misfortune of personal or family experience with blood cancers, myself included, I am devoted to advancing my training and progressing research in this field to help alleviate the burden of these diseases.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Elucidating the role of FAM72A in EBV-driven B cell lymphomagenesis

Boston Children's Hospital

Vijay G. Sankaran, MD, PhD is the Jan Ellen Paradise, MD Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, an Attending Physician in the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. Dr. Sankaran's lab seeks to understand the influence of human genetic variation on blood and immune cell production in health and disease. Their work has resulted in a number of therapies for blood diseases, including work that led to the development of Casgevy for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Dr. Sankaran has received a number of awards for his work including the 2019 Seldin-Smith Award for Pioneering Research from the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the 2022 E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society for Pediatric Research, and 2024 Trailblazer Prize from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Inherited resilience to clonal hematopoiesis and myeloid malignancy by modifying stem cell RNA regulation

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

Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Jing Fu is an Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Her research focuses on translational studies of multiple myeloma and AL amyloidosis, with an emphasis on developing novel immunotherapeutic strategies. She investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying disease progression, immune evasion, bone disease, and therapeutic resistance to identify new therapeutic targets and advance precision immunotherapy for patients with plasma cell disorders.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting GCK as a novel and selective therapeutic strategy against RAS mutated Multiple Myeloma

Children's Research Institute

Dr. Bollard received her medical degree at the University of Otago. She is board certified both in pediatrics and hematology. She is currently the Bosworth Chair for Cancer Biology, the Director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, and the Director of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy (CETI) at Children’s National Health System. She is a Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington University and the Associate Center Director for Translational Research and Innovation at the GW Cancer Center. Dr. Bollard is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and is the current President of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). She is currently Editor in Chief of Blood Advances. She has over 200 peer reviewed publications. Her bench and translational research focuses on improving outcomes for patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and on the development of novel cell therapies for cancer and virus-associated diseases.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

T cells with native and chimeric receptors against multiple tumor targets for acute myeloid leukemia

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

University of Manchester

Sam Butterworth joined the University of Manchester as a Senior Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry in November 2016. Prior to this he worked at the University of Birmingham from 2013 and at AstraZeneca from 2005-2013. During this time he has been accountable for chemistry strategy and delivery for all phases of drug discovery projects from target review and hit generation, through to lead optimisation and pre-clinical development. His work at AstraZeneca led to the development of a targeted anti-cancer agent osimertinib that was approved by the FDA in November 2015, and along with his colleagues Sam has been recognised for this work through the 2017 RSC Malcolm Campbell Award and the 2018 ACS Heroes of Chemistry award. Since returning to academia he has established national and international collaborations focussing on translation research, predominantly in Oncology, and has been awarded >£8M translational funding as PI.

Program Name(s)

CMML Initiative

Project Title

Development of peptide-drug conjugates for the treatment of Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CMML)

University of Florida

Despite Hodgkin lymphoma’s (HL) favorable prognosis, Black and Hispanic patients have worse survival rates compared to White patients. Insurance status and non-White race and ethnicity are associated with the inequitable receipt of optimal treatments, as well as survivorship care. Patients’ decision-making experiences with their clinicians influence cancer care, and shared decision-making (SDM) is central to patient-centered care when patients have multiple treatment options. However, in hematologic cancer care, many physicians underestimate patient preference for SDM, and HL survivors report minimal involvement in decision-making about their treatment and care.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Insurance Inequities in Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment and Survivorship in the Southeast