Blood Cancer United and IFLI are creating a research community to drive investment, advance technology and accelerate new treatments
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2025 — Three grants from the Blood Cancer United® (formerly The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) and the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation (IFLI) aim to create a path to more personalized treatments, and eventually cures, for patients with follicular lymphoma, a form of the blood cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The grants, to world-renowned researchers in the United States, England and Spain, come from an IFLI and Blood Cancer United partnership called the Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma or RAFL, which so far has $20 million committed to research funding.
“Long-term remission and even a cure for follicular lymphoma are getting nearer every day, but we need a collaborative, strategic approach to get there faster” says Michel Azoulay, M.D., chief medical officer at IFLI. “These three collaborative grants combine AI and cutting-edge science to accelerate the path toward more personalized treatments and, ultimately, cures for patients worldwide.”
- The $6.5 million Synergistic Team Award goes to Ari Melnick, M.D., director of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Spain. The grant supports four projects of the ERADICATE Follicular Lymphoma (E-FL) Consortium. Led by Dr. Melnick, E-FL brings together experts in AI, therapeutic modeling, experimental therapeutics and immunology to understand how parent blood cells (called clonal precursor cells) go on to develop mutations implicated in different types of follicular lymphoma.
In addition to Dr. Melnick’s team, researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard are among the collaborators.
- The first of two Translational Awards, both on a five-year timeline to move research from the lab into the clinic, is for work led by Francesco Forconi, M.D., Ph.D., at the University of Southampton in the U.K. Forconi and his team are studying slg-Mann, a unique sugar molecule found on follicular lymphoma tumor cells. They have discovered that if follicular lymphoma cells lose this unique feature, they will die. This grant supports their efforts to understand more about how slg-Mann works and how to position antibody therapy against slg-Mann in the treatment of follicular lymphoma.
- The second Translational Award supports Joshua Brody, M.D., at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. Brody is looking at ways to overcome “antigen escape,” whereby cancer cells change their genetic make-up to avoid being killed by targeted cancer treatments. Dr. Brody’s approach would enhance the immune system’s ability to not just attack tumor cells, but neighboring cells that could harbor genetic changes that can help cancer survive and spread.
Researchers can learn more about RAFL, including when submissions for funding reopen, here.
Strategic Philanthropy in Action: Driving Research Innovation
Steep budget cuts to the U.S. National Institutes of Health and similar budgetary trends outside the United States have left researchers worldwide scrambling to find funding to maintain scientific momentum. These cuts come at a pivotal moment when innovations in biomedical research are being paired with rapidly advancing data and AI capabilities with the power to accelerate new treatments like never before.
“Our vision for RAFL is more than just providing individual grants,” says Lore Gruenbaum, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Blood Cancer United. “Through these kinds of strategic research collaborations, we can connect researchers and create stronger scientific communities to accelerate success and encourage other organizations to follow this model of coming together to align vision and amplify funding capacity.”
Another key element of the RAFL program is a focus on creating and sharing deliverables to help the follicular lymphoma community. This includes datasets, predictive biomarkers and novel experimental models that can help other researchers move their science forward more quickly and therapeutic tools that can help improve outcomes and quality of life for people living with follicular lymphoma.
About Blood Cancer United®
Blood Cancer United® (formerly The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) is the largest global nonprofit focused on blood cancer patient support, research, and advocacy. The organization’s mission is to cure blood cancer and improve the quality of life of all patients and their families. To achieve it, Blood Cancer United brings together a community of people—patients and their families, volunteers, healthcare providers, scientists, staff, partners, fundraisers, and philanthropists—who believe all blood cancer patients deserve longer, fuller lives.
Since the organization’s founding in 1949, it has consistently evolved to better serve people affected by all 100-plus types of blood cancers—including leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes, and myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Blood Cancer United offers free, trustworthy resources, personalized support, and community for anyone affected by blood cancer. The organization has invested more than $2 billion in research, which continues to increase survival rates. Blood Cancer United advocates nationally and locally for more accessible and affordable healthcare for all patients.
For support and to learn more, visit www.BloodCancerUnited.org. Patients can contact blood cancer information specialists at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Connect with the organization on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.
About the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation
The Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation (IFLI) is a global, non-profit, private foundation dedicated to accelerating the development of innovative treatment options for patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). IFLI supports cutting-edge research and technology to lead to the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics and/or biomarkers for the treatment of FL, and to understand the biology of FL. The foundation deploys its budget across grants, project-based partnerships, and venture philanthropic investments to achieve its innovation goals. IFLI promotes collaboration and works to enable data sharing and the exchange of knowledge and expertise among researchers and institutions advancing FL research and for more information on IFLI, visit www.ifli.org.