The Hematopoietic Malignancies Program Area is composed of 21 members, spanning 6 Departments within UCLA. In the past competing cycle, investigators from this Program authored 372 publications, of which 104 (28%) were inter-programmatic and 59 (16%) intra-programmatic. 120 (32%) were placed in high-impact journals. 18 members of this Program Area used 7 of the currently funded JCCC Shared Resources. Current peer-reviewed funding for this program totals $6.1M of which $1.3M is awarded from NCI. The JCCC has provided the Hematopoeitic Malignancies Program with slightly more than $2.6M in support of its members and activities. These funds supported seed grants, recruitment and retention, salary support for program leadership and salary support for staff. The interests of program area members include the identification of the sites in which HSC emerge in the embryo, the delineation of lineage relationships between early stem and immature, lineage specified progenitor cells, the elucidation of intracellular signaling and transcriptional pathways that regulate blood cell development, and the effects of aging on blood cell production. This strength has in part evolved as a result of the recruitment of new faculty, the creation of the Eli and Edyth Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA (hereafter referred to as the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Center), and the considerable opportunities made possible by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). A particularly significant development that will be detailed below is the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to model hematopoiesis. Our basic and clinical program in lymphoma has been strengthened by the recruitment of two junior physician/scientists to the faculty. In this regard, new strategies to improve the efficacy of lymphoma vaccination will soon be introduced into clinical trials while a Phase I trial to target EBV-positive lymphomas is underway and has already enrolled patients. Thus, the further development of the lymphoma theme is a second major program goal, and several program area members are members of an inter-institutional lymphoma grant that has been submitted to the National Cancer Institute.
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