Who We Fund

Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Graubert is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Hematologic Malignancy Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center where he holds the Jon and JoAnn Hagler Chair in Oncology. Dr. Graubert is a physician-scientist with a laboratory-based research focus on the genetics of myeloid malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). His group has used new technologies to identify genetic alterations in patients with MDS and AML, then created animal models to study their mechanism of action and susceptibility to novel therapies. In addition to his research, Dr. Graubert oversees faculty recruitment and development for the Hematologic Malignancy Program and provides clinical care in the Center for Leukemia. He co-leads the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Consortium Leukemia Program, is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute, and serves on scientific review panels for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the American Society of Hematology, the National Institutes of Health, and Genome Canada.

Program Name(s)

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Exploiting Vulnerabilities in RNA Splicing to Treat Hematologic Malignancies

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Brody is Director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at Mount Sinai and a member of the Depart of Immunology. He has developed a robust clinical program and a translational Cancer Immunotherapy Lab which investigates basic and applied tumor immunology to develop novel therapies for lymphomas and CLL with results published in top-tier journals including Nature Medicine and Cancer Discovery.  Dr. Brody has pioneered a therapeutic vaccine approach—in situ vaccination—that induces anti-tumor immunity and regression of tumors throughout the body with clinical results published primarily for Follicular Lymphoma. Recently, his group discovered a novel approach ‘potentiating bystander killnig’ to improve immunotherapies by preventing a common escape mechanism that tumors use to evade CAR-T and bispecific antibody therapies.

Dr. Brody’s research receives funding from numerous grantors e.g. the NIH, Cancer Research Institute, Damon Runyon Foundation, and the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

Program Name(s)

Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma

Project Title

Understanding and targeting rare Ag–(CD19/CD20–) Follicular Lymphoma cells to prevent post-immunotherapy antigen escape

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Liling Wan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology from Tsinghua University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University. She conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University where she studied chromatin regulators in cancer. The Wan lab studies basic gene regulatory mechanisms and how these mechanisms are dysregulated in cancer, with the goal of harnessing these insights for therapeutics. Her research has revealed how chromatin “reader” proteins impact gene regulation in cancer such as acute myeloid leukemia and led to early drug development efforts targeting these mechanisms. Dr. Wan has been recognized for her innovative and impactful research through numerous awards including AACR NextGen Star, NIH Pathway to Independence Award, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, and was recently named a Pew-Stewart Scholar, V Foundation Scholar, and ASH Scholar.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Epigenetic Mechanisms in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Xiaodi Wu, MD, PhD, is an Instructor of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Having completed his fellowship training in medical oncology at MSKCC, he is working to establish a career as a physician–scientist who treats patients with leukemia or other blood cancers while, in the laboratory, studying how blood cancers develop out of previously healthy bone marrow due to mutations in a class of proteins called transcription factors. The goal of his work is to identify specific molecular pathways that can be targeted in order to help patients with these conditions.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

CEBPA mutations in the pathogenesis of leukemia

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

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Dr. Majeti is Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology, and Member of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a board-certified hematologist. While at Stanford, he completed post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Irving Weissman, MD, where he investigated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) stem cells and therapeutic targeting with anti-CD47 antibodies. Dr. Majeti directs an active NIH-funded laboratory that focuses on the molecular characterization and therapeutic targeting of leukemia stem cells in human hematologic disorders, particularly AML, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Translational Research Program

Clonal Evolution of Pre-Leukemic Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Human Myeloid Malignancies

Personalized Metabolic Targeting of Epigenetic AML Mutations Through the Alpha-Ketoglutarate Pathway

Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin

I have a deep passion for understanding how hematological malignancies develop from hematopoietic stem cells. My academic and research background includes studying platelet effects on chemoresistance of leukemic cells, a PhD in cancer biology identifying gene expression profiles in acute B-lymphoblastic leukemia patients, and a position in teaching hematology at Universidad Industrial de Santander. Despite success in having a secure position in a prestigious University in Colombia, limited opportunities for leukemia research prompted a move to the U.S., working at the Icahn School of Medicine in NYC. After two years focusing on modeling hematological malignancies, I shifted to a translational environment in Dr. Michael Deininger's lab, exploring metabolic properties in normal and leukemia stem cells. My ultimate professional goal is to become an independent scientist focused on understanding oncogenic mechanisms in leukemia stem cells and discovering novel treatments for patients.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Understanding the role of Metabolic Regulator SIRT5 in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Stanford University

I am a physician-scientist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (BMT&CT). Clinically, I care for patients with high-risk lymphoma and other blood cancers. I am the principal investigator of clinical trials investigating novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for the treatment of relapsed and refractory leukemia and lymphoma. These trials, in part, provide the critical and precious patient samples that are the subject of my laboratory-based research efforts. My research group is dedicated to understanding the clinical outcomes of our patients who receive these immunotherapies with the goal of improving clinical response while minimizing toxicity.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

Autologous CD22 CAR T cell Therapy for the Treatment of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Romee is a translational physician-scientist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. His long-term research goals are to translate novel aspects of immunology to improve treatments for patients with advanced cancer. He did his medical training at University of Minnesota and Washington University and was a faculty at Washington University before joining Dana Farber. He is the PI of Romee Lab for NK Cell Gene Manipulation and Therapy (https://romeelab.dana-farber.org) and the focus of his lab is gene editing of the immune cells particularly NK cells to enhance their cancer cell targeting and killing. His work helped describe memory-like NK cells which have enhanced activity against cancer cells and persist for months after their infusion into leukemia patients. He is leading efforts at Dana Farber to develop novel protocols using memory-like NK cells with other immunomodulating agents like checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced and otherwise incurable leukemia and solid tumors like Head and Neck Cancer, Ovarian Cancer and Kidney Cancer.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Cytokine induced memory-like NK cell immunotherapy to target post transplant relapse

TAP Partner

Ryvu Therapeutics is a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company focusing on novel small molecule therapies that address emerging targets in oncology using a proprietary discovery engine platform.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

A phase 2 study of RVU120, a novel CDK8 inhibitor, in patients with low-risk MDS

A phase 2 study of RVU120, a novel CDK8 inhibitor, in patients with myelofibrosis

A phase 2 study of RVU120, a novel CDK8 inhibitor, in combination with venetoclax in patients with AML

Seattle Children's Hospital

Dr. Loh is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is the Division Head of Hematology, Oncology, Bone marrow transplant, and Cellular therapies and also directs the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorder Research. Over her 30-year career, Dr. Loh has studied primary patient samples in the laboratory to make seminal observations about leukemia pathogenesis that informs accurate molecular diagnoses, improves risk stratification, and identifies novel therapeutic approaches. These studies have been performed in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, leading to innovative clinical trials. Her strength as a collaborator and leader also allows her to capitalize on the expertise and strengths of individual scientists to create highly productive teams that produce cutting edge results, and this proposal will continue that trajectory with Dr. Price’s expertise.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Affinity-Tuned T-Cell Engagers for Dual Targeting of B-Myeloid Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia

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