The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Awards $37.5 Million in Grants to Researchers Ad

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leukemia & Lymphoma

Society today announced the awarding of four new Specialized Center

of Research (SCOR) grants, the Society's most ambitious and

synergistic research initiative, bringing the program's total

funding to $118 million since its inception in 2000.

Each of this year's SCOR recipients will receive $1.25 million

per year for five years, for a total of $6.25 million. In addition,

the Society is renewing two existing SCORS for five more years.

The innovative SCOR program brings together a cluster of at

least three independent research teams working in complementary

areas, each focused on the discovery of new approaches in therapies

for patients with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma. The program

encourages scientists from different disciplines to collaborate in

the hopes of developing novel treatments. Awards go to those

groups that best demonstrate outstanding scientific promise and the

synergy that will occur from their combined efforts.

" The four SCOR grant recipients selected this year have

assembled teams who are pursing new targets for therapy that have a

high probability of leading to new vaccines and medicines to treat

lymphoma and leukemia, " said Marshall Lichtman, M.D., the Society's

executive vice president, Research & Medical Programs.

The recipients for 2005 are:

Levy, M.D., Division of Oncology, Stanford University

School of Medicine:

Dr. Levy has received international acclaim for his work using

the body's own arsenal to fight cancer. He is currently conducting

clinical trials of a lymphoma vaccine. His research concentrates on

the study of malignant lymphoma, which are tumors of the immune

system, using the tools of immunology and molecular biology to

develop a better understanding of the initiation and progression of

the malignant process. Receptor molecules present on the surface of

tumor cells transmit signals for regulation of cell growth; these

receptors include the immunoglobulin molecule on B cell tumors and

the T cell receptor on T cell tumors. Dr. Levy is using these

receptors as targets for new therapies for lymphoma. Dr. Levy has

published over 250 articles in the fields of oncology and

immunology. In addition to Dr. Levy, his team for the SCOR research

includes three other researchers, all from Stanford.

Kipps, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Director of Research, s

UCSD Cancer Center, University of California at San Diego: Dr.

Kipps' research aims to identify new, targeted therapies for chronic

lymphocytic leukemia. His team, which includes scientists from UCSD

and the Burnham Institute, will include four different avenues of

attack: development of drugs targeting a protein (ZAP-70) that is

found in aggressive CLL; development of therapies that eliminate the

resistance of leukemia cells to cell death; use of well-known growth

regulators (AMP and cAMP) to trigger leukemia cell death; evaluating

the role of MF-KB in CLL development for progression; and testing

the ability of the newly developed drugs to trigger leukemia cell

death.

Cheryl Willman, M.D., Cancer Research and Treatment Center,

University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center: The SCOR awarded to

Dr. Willman's team has been funded by the Nike Women's Marathon.

Through its groundbreaking partnership with the Society, Nike

created the first marathon for women where every participant can

help raise funds for lifesaving cancer research. Dr. Willman's

research will focus on the molecular 'signature' of acute

lymphocytic leukemia as her team aims to identify new targets for

therapy of ALL. The ALL 'signature' is composed of a series of

proteins found in the cancer cells and not in normal cells. Further

pinpointing these signature proteins may form the basis for the

development of drugs for targeted-therapy of ALL. The team is

composed of collaborating scientists from the University of New

Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories, the Fred Hutchison Cancer

Research Center and the National Cancer Institute.

Byrd, M.D., Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State

University: Dr. Byrd's studies will: seek a better understanding of

the effectiveness of an existing drug (flavopiridol) in treating

CLL; develop better methods to use the drugs depsipepetide and HDAC-

42 in conjunction with immuno-therapy to treat CLL; develop more

potent forms of depsipepetide and HDAC-42; and identify new targets

that may form the basis for the discovery of new drugs to treat

CLL. Dr. Byrd's team is composed of four collaborating and

interactive groups, all at The Ohio State University. One unique

aspect of this SCOR team is the inclusion of a chemistry team that

is capable of changing existing drugs to improve their effectiveness

and creating new drugs based on the results of the research projects

pursued.

In addition to the four new centers, the Society has renewed

SCORs led by Druker, M.D. of Oregon Health & Science

University; and , M.D. of the Dana-Farber Cancer

Institute. Dr. Druker, who helped pioneer Gleevec, the frontline

therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), was one of the

inaugural SCOR recipients in 2000. His team is concentrating on the

causes of CML and how best to use Gleevec to treat the disease. Dr.

, another original recipient, and his collaborators are

working toward the discovery of small molecular weight compounds

that may inhibit the FLT3- receptor tyrosine kinase in myeloid

leukemias.

SCOR is one of three integrated research programs established by

the Society. The Career Development Program provides stipends to

investigators of exceptional promise in the early stages of their

careers, and the Translational Research Program encourages and

supports outstanding investigative research that shows strong

promise of translating biomedical knowledge into new treatments.

The Society also bestows the Stohlman Scholar Award, given to

scientists who hold faculty-level or equivalent positions at

major research institutions and who are in the fifth year of their

research scholarship.

Since its inception, the Society has invested more than $424

million in research to find the causes and cures for blood cancers.

In 2005 alone, the Society's research budget exceeded $51 million

dollars.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, headquartered in White Plains,

NY, with 66 chapters in the United States and Canada, is the world's

largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood

cancer research and providing education and patient services. The

Society's mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and

myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their

families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has invested more

than $424 million in research specifically targeting leukemia,

lymphoma and myeloma. Last year alone, the Society made 2.5 million

contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

For more information about blood cancer, visit

http://www.LLS.org or call the Society's Information Resource Center

(IRC), a call center staffed by master's level social workers,

nurses and health educators who provide information, support and

resources to patients and their families and caregivers. IRC

information specialists are available at (800) 955-4572, Monday

through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.