Multiple myeloma is a clonal plasma cell malignancy which, despite recent treatment advances, remains incurable in the vast majority of the over 59,000 patients in the United States afflicted with this disease. Therefore, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in collaboration with The University of Pennsylvania and the Virginia Commonwealth University, is proposing this Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Multiple Myeloma. The primary goal of this program will be to translate promising new strategies from the bench to the bedside to reduce the morbidity and mortality, and improve the quality of life of multiple myeloma patients. To do so, a multidisciplinary, collaborative group of experienced investigators will be pursuing four highly innovative Projects: Project 1 - Combination Activated T-Cell and Vaccine Therapy in Myeloma (Kwak/Giralt/June/Stadtmauer) Project 2 - Anti-(32-microglobulin Antibodies as Therapeutic Agents for Multiple Myeloma (Yi/Wang) Project 3-Targeting the HDM-2 E3 Ligase in Multiple Myeloma (Orlowski/Weber) Project 4 - Targeting Multiple Myeloma by Combining CDK Inhibitors and Bcl-2 Antagonists (Grant/Wang/Dai/Dent) To provide the specialized expertise needed to maximize the success of the Projects, they will be supported by five Core Facilities: Core A - Administrative Core Facility (Orlowski/Kwak) Core B - Myeloma Tissue Core Facility (Kornblau/Wang/Davis/Lin) Core C - Animal Models Core Facility (Yi/Yang) Core D - Clinical Trials Core Facility (Weber/Stadtmauer/McLaughlin) Core E - Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core Facility (Berry/Baladandayuthapani/Almeida/ Ramakrishnan) Also, the SPORE will attract new investigators with additional novel ideas, and train the next generation of myeloma researchers, through the following Programs: Developmental Research Program (OrlowskiA'i) Career Development Program (Kwak/Aggarwal/Stadtmauer) This SPORE will therefore serve as a nexus for its Investigators and the myeloma research community to foster the kind of multidisciplinary efforts that are necessary to bring us closer to a cure for this disease.
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