2014 ATSDR ANNOUNCES MORE FINDINGS FROM PV CLUSTER IN PENNSYLVANIA

The MPN Research Foundation is thrilled to announce the award of seven new projects as part of the MPN Challenge Grant program, a partnership between MPNRF and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The following projects applied and reviewed in a competitive, peer-reviewed process that took place this past July in Chicago. Andrew Schafer, MD, a Richard T. Silver, M.D. Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) Center at Weil Cornell Professor and the Chair of MPNRF’s Scientific Advisory Board commented: “As reflected by the institutions represented, the MPN Challenge grant is now the leading funding source for the most competitive MPN research grant applications worldwide.”

The projects will receive $100,000 each for up to 2 years. They are:

Matyas Ecsedi, MD, Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center “A JAK2 V617F -directed T cell receptor transgenic T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms” Partial funding in year one is being provided by the Fred Hutchinson’s Cancer Research Center’s Evergreen Fund

Yelena Ginzburg, MD Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai “Dysregulated iron metabolism plays a pivotal role in polycythemia vera”

Vikas Gupta, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network “Feasibility of a patient preferences-controlled study of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation versus best available non-transplant therapies in patients with myelofibrosis (ALLO-BAT Study)”

Catriona Jamieson, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego “Detection and Inhibition of Malignant RNA Processing Deregulation in Myelofibrosis”

Alison Moliterno, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine “Targeting Thrombopoietin Signaling in the MPN”

Jyoti Nangalia, MD, Ph.D., Wellcome Sanger Institute “Origins of MPN: Understanding the timing of acquisition of driver mutations and dynamics of clonal expansion.”

Vijay Sankaran, MD, Ph.D., Boston Children’s Hospital “Dissecting Germline Genetic Risk for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms”

The timing of these awards and their hoped-for impact is significant for the community of people living with a myeloproliferative neoplasm. Despite the wealth of knowledge on these rare, chronic blood cancers, and the 2 FDA approved therapies, there are still many unmet needs for people with Polycythemia Vera, Essential Thrombocythemia, and Myelofibrosis.

Barbara Van Husen, Chairperson of the MPNRF board of directors, noted that this unmet need was especially meaningful to MPNRF following founder Bob Rosen’s death in 2018 from complications of MPN. “We are living out Bob’s legacy on behalf of patients everywhere who look to us to fund research that will one day provide what didn’t happen for Bob, which is more and better therapy options when they are needed.”

This year is the 7th year of the Challenge grant program. It represents a partnership between the MPN Research Foundation and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society based on a shared mission to support research into blood cancers.

About MPN Research Foundation (MPNRF)

To date, MPNRF has given over $15 million in funding for research into myeloproliferative neoplasms. The mission of MPNRF is to stimulate original research in pursuit of new treatments – and eventually a cure – for the blood cancers Polycythemia Vera, Essential Thrombocythemia, and Myelofibrosis, known collectively as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). MPNRF is proposing their 20th anniversary of funding research, sharing news on the latest discoveries, raising awareness and advocating on behalf of those living with an MPN. 

For more about their work visit www.mpnrf.org

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