Who We Fund

University of Perugia. Department of Medicine and Surgery

After graduation in Medicine and residency in Hematology at the University of Perugia (Italy) under the supervision of Prof. M. F. Martelli and Prof. B. Falini, Enrico Tiacci trained in the molecular pathogenesis of lymphomas at the University of Essen (Germany) in the laboratory of Prof. R. Küppers. He then established and independent translational and clinical research program in leukemias and lymphomas at the University and Hospital of Perugia, where he is Associate Professor of Hematology. He published as author and acted as reviewer in journals like the New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Investigations and Blood Cancer Discovery.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

Project Title

BRAF inhibition as an alternative to chemotherapy in the treatment strategy of hairy cell leukemia

Columbia University Medical Center

Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology, is the founder and Director of the Institute for Cancer Genetics at Columbia University. He has dedicated his 40-year long career to the study of the pathogenesis of B cell malignancies, including B Cell Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, and contributed significantly to the understanding of the genetics and biology of these diseases, as quoted in major textbooks of medicine and oncology. These studies have direct impacts on the diagnostics and therapeutic targeting of B cell cancers. His work is widely recognized by numerous National and International prizes and awards, including the 2006 William Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology and the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research GHA Clowes Memorial Award. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Genomics of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma: pervasive role of super-enhancer hypermutation in dysregulating oncogene expression

Rutgers University

A PharmD by training, I then obtained my PhD guided by Dr. Manuel Serrano at the CNIO studying Sirt1 role in metabolism and cancer, which led to 4 first-author and 1 corresponding papers, plus 11 co authorships. Next, I joined the Ferrando Lab at Columbia University where I published two seminal papers identifying a NOTCH1-driven Myc enhancer critical for T-cell development and leukemia, and dissecting the role of cancer metabolism in the resistance to anti-NOTCH1 therapy. I started my independent career at Rutgers in July 2017. In these 4 years, I have established a highly successful and productive laboratory, as reflected by the multiple funding sources obtained (including R01, ACS or AACR grants, among others), as well as by the publication of 3 corresponding author studies: a Blood Cancer Discovery paper identifying an enhancer of PTEN in leukemia; a Leukemia paper describing the antileukemic effects of SHMT inhibition; and a Blood paper describing the therapeutic effects of mitochondrial uncoupling in T-ALL.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Therapeutic exploitation of novel mouse models and metabolic interventions in leukemia

Medical College of Wisconsin

Nirav Shah, MD, MSHP is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Division of Hematology and Oncology, specializing in lymphoma, stem cell transplant, and CAR-T therapy. He graduated with honors and Alpha Omega Alpha honor society membership from University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in 2008. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Harvard affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital in 2011. Following residency, he went to the University of Pennsylvania where he completed Hematology/Oncology fellowship and received a Master of Science in Health Policy research in 2015. His current focus is the development of dual targeted anti-CD20, anti-CD19 CAR-T cells (CAR20.19) for B-cell malignancies. Results of a Phase 1 trial with CAR20.19 T-cells were published in Nature Medicine in Oct. 2020. Data from that study directed development of three new CAR20.19 clinical trials led by Dr. Shah all actively enrolling patients.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Improving Bispecific CD20/CD19 CAR T-cell Therapy to Overcome Resistance Mechanisms in B-cell Malignancies

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

Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Jaroslaw P. Maciejewski, MD, PhD, FACP, is Staff Physician in the Cleveland Clinic Department of Hematologic and Oncology, Chairman of the Department of Translational Hematology & Oncology Research at Taussig Cancer Center and Professor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Recognized for his scholarly achievement in biomedical research, Dr. Maciejewski is an elected member of The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). His areas of expertise include bone marrow failure syndromes and myeloid malignancies. As the recipient of numerous federal and foundation grant awards, Dr. Maciejewski has a distinguished track-record in research including continuity in federal research grant funding from the National Institutes of Health since 2003. His extensive list of publications of over 450 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters demonstrates his success as an accomplished and respected translational physician-scientist.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

HLA Mutations, GvH Resistance and Relapse Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant

Mayo Clinic, Rochester

Grzegorz (Greg) Nowakowski, M.D., is a consultant and a Professor of Oncology and Medicine, Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester,Minnesota, where he also serves as the Aggressive B-cell Lymphoma Program Director, the Chairman of Education,and an Advanced Hematology Fellowship Program Director. Dr. Nowakowski received his MD from the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland. He completed his internal medicine residency at Yale University Medical School -Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk, Connecticut and his fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Dr Nowakowski joined the Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Group in 2006 as a Mayo Foundation Scholar.Heis an alumnus of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Clinical Research Training Institute and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Leadership Development Program. Dr. Nowakowski’s research focuses on the molecular classification and biology of lymphoproliferative disorders,new approaches to clinical trial design and novel therapies for lymphoma and hematological disorders. Heis an investigator in University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Specialized Center of Research Excellence program, where he leads career enhancement program. Dr. Nowakowski has authored over 200 articles and numerous book chapters. Dr.Nowakowski serves as a principal investigator of multiple investigator-initiated and cooperative group clinical trials(ECOG, Alliance) and industry studies and serves and a member of ECOG Lymphoma Core Committee. Dr.Nowakowski also chairs the Lymphoma Committee and Hematological Malignancy Program in the Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU) network. He currently serves as a vice Chair of ASH Clinical Trial Innovation Subcommittee chair of ASCO Research Community Forum and ASCO Clinical Trial Access and Participation Taskforce. Dr. Nowakowski has served as Voting Member of the Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

REACH: Recruitment Expansion through community Access to Clinical trials in Hematologic malignancies

Columbia University Medical Center

I’m a Research Scientist at Columbia University Multiple Myeloma Program. I have over 20 years of research experience, especially with profound expertise in pharmaceutical biochemistry and drug development in multiple myeloma. I received my Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology and Chemistry of Peptides in 2005. After that, I did my postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and have focused on multiple myeloma drug development since then. My current research aims to identify the druggable targets and develop therapeutic approaches for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma-carrying RAS mutation. My work has been awarded by the International Myeloma Foundation Brian D. Novis Research Grant, the International Myeloma Society, and the Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation Translational Research Award. My research has also resulted in over 18 peer-reviewed articles in top journals such as JCI, Blood, and Leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

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

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

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Nitin Jain, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He earned his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He completed Internal Medicine residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Jain research interests include new drug development for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dr. Jain is Principal Investigator of several investigator-initiated phase I-II clinical trials, including combination targeted therapies (ibrutinib and venetoclax) in CLL, checkpoint inhibitors in Richter transformation, novel CD22 antibody drug conjugate in B-ALL, venetoclax + chemotherapy in B- and T-ALL, and off-the-self allogeneic CAR-T in B-ALL. The trial combining ibrutinib and venetoclax was published in New England Journal of Medicine in 2019. He has won many awards including ASCO merit award, Sabin Family Foundation Award in 2018 and MD Anderson Faculty Scholar award in 2020.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Combination Targeted Therapy in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

TAP Partner

Kura Oncology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to realizing the promise of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer. The Company’s pipeline consists of small molecule drug candidates that target cancer signaling pathways.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

A phase 2 registration-directed clinical study of ziftomenib (KO-539), a menin inhibitor, in patients with NPM1-mutant relapsed or refractory AML

Temple University

Tomasz Skorski, MD, PhD, DSc: I serve as the Director of Fels Cancer Institute for Personalized Medicine at Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine and as an Associate Director of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. My laboratory is focused on determination of the role of DNA repair mechanisms in hematological malignancies, including the potential of therapeutic interventions. We found that leukemia cells accumulate potentially lethal DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), but DNA repair mechanisms protect their survival. However, due to genetic, epigenetic and metabolomic aberrations leukemia cells may employ different DNA repair mechanisms than normal cells. We explore these differences to target leukemia-specific DNA repair mechanisms to achieve synthetic lethality in leukemia cells, with negligible effects on normal cells. These studies will lead to novel therapeutic approaches based on induction of personalized medicine-guided synthetic lethality in leukemias from individual patients.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Precision medicine-guided drugging of DNA repair to induce synthetic lethality in AMLs

Genetic roadmaps to synthetic lethality in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs)