The Hematologic Malignancies Program (HMP) was established in 1995 as the Stem Cell Biology and Therapeutics Program. It was given its present name in 2004 to better reflect the overarching mission of the HMP, i.e. to translate basic scientific discoveries into novel therapeutics for patients with myeloid and lymphoid neoplasms. To support this mission, the HMP has 5 scientific goals. These are to: 1) develop a mechanistic understanding of the role of chromosomal translocations, chromatin remodeling, and transcription factors in regulating normal and malignant hematopoiesis; 2) define the receptors and signal transduction pathways employed by malignant hematopoietic cells to respond to specific environmental stimuli; 3) investigate the immune response to these cells to develop more effective immune-based therapies; 4) create animal models to test promising discoveries coming from the laboratory; and 5) design and conduct innovative, field-leading clinical trials. The Program has been led for the past decade by Alan M. Gewirtz, MD, a pioneer of translational research in the hematologic malignancies. Dr. Edward Stadtmauer, a leader in clinical trials of novel therapeutics for hematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplantation, has served as Co-Leader for the past 2 years. The HMP has 19 primary members, drawn from 5 Departments (Medicine, Pediatrics, Genetics, Pathology, Cancer Cell Biology) within the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, who share a strong research interest in the molecular, cellular, structural, biochemical and immunological approaches to understanding blood cancers and their treatment. HMP member interactions are facilitated by common use of Cores, multiple weekly seminars and meetings, collaborative grant submissions, and an annual research retreat. During the last budget period, a total of 38 peer reviewed projects were supported by NCI, NIH, and other non-governmental agencies (LLS, ACS) for a total of $5,693,859 in research funding (annual direct costs) of which $4,927,175 is peer-reviewed and $2,652,239 is from the NCI. During the last review period, HMP members published 333 cancer-related papers. Of these, 13% were intra-programmatic collaborations and 42% resulted from inter-programmatic collaborations.
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