Who We Fund

Medical College of Wisconsin

Siegfried Janz, MD, DSc, Professor and William G. Schuett, Jr., Multiple Myeloma Endowed Chair directs translational myeloma research at the Division of Hematology, Oncology & Bone Marrow Transplantation, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee. After obtaining his medical degree and board certification in Clinical Immunology from Leipzig University Medical School, Germany, he received advanced training in genetic and biological pathways of myeloma development at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. In 2018 he relocated his laboratory to Milwaukee, where he works in close association with his clinical colleagues to enhance our understanding of the natural history of myeloma and improve myeloma treatment and outcomes. His ongoing efforts concentrate on the design and testing of novel immunotherapies that rely on patient-derived T lymphocytes to seek out and kill myeloma.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Improving outcomes of multiple myeloma using TGF-beta resistant BCMA-targeted CAR T cells

TAP Partner

Solu Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing next-generation therapeutics to eliminate disease-driving cells in cancer, immunology and other therapeutic areas. The company’s proprietary CyTAC (Cytotoxicity Targeting Chimera) and TicTAC (Therapeutic Index Control Targeting Chimera) platforms enable the development of innovative medicines that combine the target-binding capability of small molecules with the therapeutic power of biologics.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

A phase 1 study of STX-0712, a CCR2-CyTAC monocyte depletor, in patients with CMML

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Daniel Lucas uses microscopy to understand how blood cells are produced in the marrow of the bone and how leukemia inhibits this process. A native Spaniard, he obtained his PhD in Madrid training with Drs. Antonio Bernad and Luis Blanco. Then he moved to New York for postdoctoral training in Paul Frenette’s lab. There he discovered basic mechanisms through which the nervous system regulates blood cell production. He also identified macrophages and megakaryocytes -two types of cells produced by the blood stem cells- as key regulators of those very same blood stem cells. This was the first demonstration that the stem cells were regulated by their own progeny. He established his own research group at the University of Michigan Medical School before being recruited to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. His group has discovered mechanisms that promote faster blood recovery after transplantation and deciphered how several types of blood cells assemble in the bone marrow.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Cellular Crosstalk In The Normal And Malignant Bone Marrow

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

University of California, San Francisco

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Towards Risk-Adapted Therapeutic Strategies in CNS Lymphoma

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Dr. Goyal obtained his medical school diploma from Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College in Ahmedabad, India, in 2011 and moved to the US to complete a residency in Internal Medicine from Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska in 2016. He pursued a fellowship in hematology-oncology from Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota from 2016-2019. He developed a unique focus in histiocytic neoplasms, including Erdheim-Chester disease, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and Rosai-Dorfman disease. He conducted multiple studies describing the epidemiology, treatments, and outcomes of patients with histiocytosis and led to the establishment of first of its kind multidisciplinary Histiocytosis Working Group. He has led national and international guidelines on the diagnosis and management of these rare disease entities. He was subsequently recruited to join the Hematology-Oncology division at University of Alabama at Birmingham as an Assistant Professor in 2019 where he launched the Histiocytic Disorder Survivor Study to assess long-term outcomes among individuals with histiocytic neoplasms.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

A Multi-Center, Multi-National Investigation of Survivorship and Patient-Reported Symptoms in Erdheim-Chester Disease

Yale University

The first-generation in his family to attend college, Dr. Girardi is the Evans Professor of Dermatology and Vice Chair of Faculty Development & Scientific Innovation at the Yale School of Medicine. The previous Co-Director of the Immunology and Immunotherapy Program for the Yale Cancer Center, Dr. Girardi has committed his career as a physician-scientist to the care of lymphoma patients and the discovery of new treatments. Dr. Girardi has led a highly collaborative research program funded by the National Cancer Institute for 20+ years investigating lymphoma and immunology, including major findings on the genetics, therapeutics development, and formulation of treatment guidelines through the U.S. Cutaneous Lymphoma Consortium and International Society of Cutaneous Lymphoma. Dr. Girardi also serve on the Leadership Council for Advancing Innovation in Dermatology and has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Personalized Anti-TCRVbeta2 therapeutic antibody and ADC for T Cell Leukemias and Lymphomas

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Dr. John Crispino is Chief of the Division of Experimental Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He received his PhD from MIT for research on the mechanisms of RNA splicing performed in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Sharp and then performed post-doctoral hematology research at Harvard Medical School with Dr. Stuart Orkin. Dr. Crispino and members of his laboratory have made many important contributions to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of normal and aberrant blood development. Currently, his research is focused on the role of GATA1 in blood cell development, mechanisms of leukemogenesis in children with Down syndrome and the characterization of genetic changes that drive malignant progression of MDS and MPN. He has authored over 170 manuscripts, with recent papers in Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Blood. Dr. Crispino is a recent Associate Editor of Blood, on the editorial boards of Leukemia and Blood Cancer Journal and past chair of an NIH study section.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Aberrant Megakaryopoiesis in the MPNs

Understanding Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome to Develop Better Therapies

The University of Sydney

I am Head of the Cancer and Stem Cell Laboratory, and my research has been focused on leukemia stem cell biology and targeted therapies in the past 15 years. I have an extensive background in leukemia research, with specific training and expertise in stem cell biology, patient-derived preclinical models, CRISPR-genome editing, and single-cell multi-omics. As PI on several NHMRC-funded grants, I laid the groundwork for the proposed research by uncovering new therapeutic targets and mechanisms, and by establishing partnerships with industry that will enable personalized therapies into clinical application. I successfully administered the projects (e.g. staffing, research protections, timeline, budget), collaborated with researchers, and produced publications from each project in leading scientific journals (e.g. Cancer Cell, Blood). The current application builds logically on my prior work. I have the expertise, leadership, and motivation necessary to successfully carry out this project.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Strategic combinations to overcome therapeutic resistance and relapse in acute myeloid leukemia

Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Doulatov is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington. His laboratory investigates how normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) transform into blood cancers. As an undergraduate at UCLA with Dr. Jeff Miller, he discovered a new class of retroelements. As a Ph.D. student with Dr. John Dick at the University of Toronto, he helped establish the “roadmap” of the human HSC and progenitor hierarchy. As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. George Daley at Harvard, he identified methods to promote HSC development from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These advances have enabled the use of iPSCs as a platform for disease modeling and drug screens, leading to the discovery of a drug for inherited anemia. The Doulatov laboratory is using human iPSCs and HSCs to discover how oncogenic mutations cooperate to transform normal stem cells into leukemias. His long-term goal is to develop treatments that target malignant stem cells leading to lasting remissions for patients.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Modeling and targeting leukemic transformation of human hematopoietic stem cells

Johns Hopkins University

As a physician-scientist in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Dalton has a clinical specialty in myeloid leukemias and a research laboratory that focuses on the study of DNA mutations that drive those leukemias. In particular, he is working to better understand DNA mutations in the spliceosome, which occur in many patients with MDS and AML and are currently difficult to treat. He uses bone marrow and blood samples generously donated by patients, together with cell ‘models’ that he genetically engineers in the lab, to understand what these DNA mutations do and how they might be targeted with new treatments. His work has led to identification of vulnerabilities in cells containing these mutations that he aims to translate into novel therapeutic approaches in MDS and AML.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Therapeutic modulation of serine availability for SF3B1-mutant myeloid malignancies

Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Maxson is an assistant professor in the Knight Cancer Institute, where she investigates the cellular and molecular changes that cause myeloid leukemias. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Scripps College and then completed her Ph.D. in Cell Biology in the area of protein trafficking and processing. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Drs. Jeff Tyner and Brian Druker, she integrated genomic and functional screening data to identify novel therapeutic targets in leukemia. Notably, Dr. Maxson identified mutations in CSF3R in the vast majority of patients with chronic neutrophilic leukemia. She discovered that these mutations confer sensitivity to JAK inhibitors, which resulted in a clinical trial for these patients. The Maxson laboratory works to understand how genomic changes manifest at the cellular level to promote cancer formation and progression. Her long-term goal is to use this understanding to develop lifesaving treatments for patients with leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting the interplay between signaling and transcriptional dysfunction in myeloid leukemias