Current Grants
To date, the Foundation has awarded over $8 million for MPN research. Awards follow an extensive proposal review process conducted by the MPN Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board as well as additional MPN experts who gave generously of their time and expertise.
In 2010 we issued an Request for Proposals (RFP) for the following programs:
- Established Investigator Awards: Two- year grants of $150,000 per year. These grants are aimed at researchers with a demonstrated interest and history of achievement in MPN research. Projects can be either basic or translational research, as long as results will contribute to new understanding, new molecular targets, or new treatments for MPNs.
- New Investigator Awards: Two- year grants of $75,000 per year. These grants are aimed at emerging investigators who are considering a career related to research in the myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) or established investigators in other fields who are interested in bringing their experience, skills and ideas to research in the MPNs.
Through this program we awarded the following investigators:
$150,000 Established Investigator Awards for 2011
Dr. Shaoguang Li, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is trying to confirm the identification of the gene Alox5 as a target for the treatment of polycythemia vera, one of the three classic MPNs. Alox5 is a promising target, because its presence is essential for the development of a related blood disease, chronic myelogenous leukemia; its loss prevents the disease from developing.
Dr. Robert Kralovics, at the Center for Molecular Medicine, Austrian Academy of Science, is attempting to decipher the genetic complexity of myeloproliferative neoplasms through genome sequencing.
Dr. Benjamin Ebert and Dr. Ross Levine, at Harvard Medical School and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, will use whole genome sequencing to identify variant forms of genes that contribute to MPD pathogenesis.
$75,000 New Investigator Awards for 2011
Dr. Toshiaki Kawakami, at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, is studying a series of genes whose absence in mice is known to cause tumors and myeloproliferative neoplasms. He hypothesizes that the same thing happens in humans, and if it does, the discovery could lead directly to new therapeutic targets for MPN drug development.
Dr. Wei Tong, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is trying to determine the ways in which a protein called LNK downregulates JAK signaling. JAK2 is basically an on-off switch whose malfunction is present in many MPNs. LNK normally regulates the JAK2 switch to prevent myeloproliferation; mutated versions fail to turn off the signaling.
Dr. Saghi Ghaffari, at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is investigating a different signaling mechanism whose failure may be responsible for myeloproliferation. This is important because the JAK2 mutation is not present in all MPN patients; there must be at least one other mutation to account for those cases.
Additional Grants
We funded an additional two grants that seek to improve the lives of MPN patients and/or advance the scientific understanding of the disease. Each of the following was funded for $50,000:
Dr. Robert I. Handin, at the Brigham and Women's Hospital within the Harvard School of Medicine, is testing HDAC Inhibitors and Red Cell Proliferation in Zebrafish Embryos Expressing Human JAK2V617F.
Dr. Ruben Mesa, at the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, has put together a survey which seeks to validate the use of the Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Symptom Assessment Form Diary to Assess Symptomatic Pains in Patients with Polycythemia Vera and Post Polycythemia Vera.
Each research project was selected for the direct impact it could have on patients, either in the short term or by opening new avenues for productive research in the future, and for its potential to leverage the Foundation’s limited funds by producing, over time, benefits far exceeding the initial investment.
For a list of grants made by the Foundation in the past, click here.
