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Where Are They Now? Past Recipients of the EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award

2010-03-01

We asked the past recipients to share with us what they’ve been up to since receiving this award. We’ve published a few of their responses below.

Giovanni Roti, MD, 2007 EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award Recipient
Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

My interest in a physician-scientist career in hematology was inspired by my early training in Dr. Cristina Mecucci’s laboratory at the University of Perugia. She was an incredible mentor and strong advocate for my career, encouraging me to apply for the EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award in 2007. I was keen to expand my training with exposure to new scientific approaches. The EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award provided a rare opportunity to train in the academic environment of the United States. In particular, I have had the good fortune of working with Dr. Kimberly Stegmaier at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where I am currently completing my post-doctoral fellowship. Dr. Stegmaier guided me in devising the proposed project of “modulating Notch1 with signature-based small molecule library screening.” Her laboratory focuses on novel approaches to small molecule library screening with the goals of identifying candidate therapies for acute leukemia and pediatric malignancies and new tool compounds for exploring pathways in oncogenesis. My research efforts have focused on the identification and validation of new small molecule modulators of Notch1 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). The project has progressed quite nicely, and we are excited to test one of our top candidate molecules in preclinical models of Notch1 mutant T-ALL.

I grew up in a small town and never dreamed I would find myself in a cutting-edge scientific community. This award has truly enabled my dream. Training under the guidance of Dr. Stegmaier in the first-rate Boston scientific community is a critical step in my career development. I have been afforded opportunities to present my work nationally and internationally at the ASH and EHA meetings and to successfully compete for additional fellowship funding. I often think about how fortunate I am that this fellowship made a critical impact on my self-confidence and my commitment to pursuing a physician-scientist career. I am honored to have received this award, and I am deeply committed to maximizing my efforts to foster new collaborations between my host and home research communities.

Lapo Alinari, MD, 2008 EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award Recipient
Division of Hematology/Oncology, The Ohio State University

I received the 2008 EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award to study the role of arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) overexpression in B-cell transformation. In the past year and a half, I have successfully completed the first goal of my proposal — showing the mechanisms and consequences of PRMT5 overexpression during the B-cell transformation process — and I am preparing a manuscript summarizing the results. I am continuing my work with Dr. John Byrd at the Arthur G. James Comprehensive Cancer Center at The Ohio State University and focusing on completing the second goal of my research plan. Specifically, I am exploring methods to inhibit PRMT5 expression/activity and experimentally addressing therapeutic activity, specificity, and optimal delivery of novel compounds in preclinical animal models of human lymphoma.

I am currently in the third year of a PhD program in Clinical and Experimental Hematology and Hematopathology at the Institute of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the U niversity of Bologna, Italy, working with Dr. Pier Luigi Zinzani. I firmly believe that the receipt of the EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award has been instrumental in my completion of a project with great translational potential. Furthermore, this award has markedly enhanced my career goal to one day become an independently funded translational investigator in the field of experimental therapeutics of B-cell malignancies.

Serena Kimi Perna, MD, 2008 EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award Recipient
Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine

Thanks to the support of the EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award, I was able to join the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, TX, directed by Dr. Malcolm K. Brenner. During these two years I have been supervised by Dr. Barbara Savoldo, an associate professor who has been working with Dr. Brenner since 1998.

The title of my research project is “Chimeric T-cell therapy for Hodgkin disease.” The general aim is to improve the efficacy of Epstein-Barr virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (EBV-CTLs) for the therapy of Hodgkin disease (HD). Our strategy is to redirect the cells using a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that targets the CD30 antigen and further engineering these CTLs to overcome the molecular and cellular barriers that protect HD cells from immune attack. During the past two years, I have extensively explored the interaction between T-regulatory cells (Tregs) and/or CAR+ CTLs. The results of these studies have been submitted as abstracts to ASH and the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. I am currently writing the manuscript, which I hope to submit by the end of the month.

The EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award gave me the opportunity to join the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy working on cell-therapy-based approaches. By meeting and discussing my results daily with talented and experienced colleagues, I had the chance to experience a different, challenging, and exciting reality, while advancing my commitment to establish myself in the field of immunotherapy research (both basic and translational). Thanks to the support of the EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award, I will be able to transition to an independent investigator and successfully move my project into the clinic when I return to my home institution of San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.

Freda-Janet Passam, MD, PhD, 2009 EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award Recipient
Department of Hemostasis and Thrombosis, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

I am currently in Boston, working in the Department of Hemostasis and Thrombosis at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center under the direction of Drs. Bruce and Barbara Furie. I arrived in July 2009 and started working on my research project titled “The role of thiol isomerase endoplasmic reticulum protein 5 (ERP5) in thrombus formation.” It’s an extremely interesting study. Thiol isomerases are a group of enzymes that act on disulfide bonds of proteins including critical hemostatic proteins. This laboratory has previously shown that another member of the thiol isomerase family, protein disulfide isomerase, is required for the formation of thrombus in the blood vessels of living mice. I will attempt to identify that ERP5 is also important in thrombosis. To this end, I am currently performing intravital microscopy of thrombosis induced by laser injury in the vessels of mice. This technology was developed in the Furie laboratory for in vivo study of thrombosis and has substantially contributed to the current understanding of the pathophysiology of thrombosis.

I feel very fortunate to have received the 2009 EHA-ASH Research Exchange Award. It has given me the unique opportunity to come to this prestigious laboratory in the Harvard Medical complex. My research skills have expanded by working on the in vivo thrombosis model and using the modern core facilities. My knowledge regarding the pathophysiology behind thrombosis has increased, as this group maintains a multidisciplinary approach to the study of blood coagulation, platelets, and vascular biology. In addition, it has provided an environment in which to interact with hematologists and scientists from all around the world. I am confident that by the end of the EHA-ASH Award period I will have gained sufficient experience to expand thrombosis research activities in my home country, Greece.