Adelson Research Foundation Supports 3-Year Myeloma Funding Initiative

The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation (AMRF), a private organization funding collaborative translational science, recently launched the Adelson Program in Multiple Myeloma Research (APMMR).

The three-year program will support seven investigators conducting translational research in multiple myeloma at four leading U.S. academic institutions.

“Our foundation emphasizes the translation of discovery science to clinically applicable technologies in a quick and efficient manner,” Miriam Adelson, trustee and executive director of the AMRF, said in a press release.

“The APMMR is poised to have a significant impact on therapeutic advancements in an effort to treat and potentially cure multiple myeloma,” added Kristian Hedstrom, chief science officer of AMRF. “Through AMRF’s model of collaboration, this team of world class investigators will pursue novel interventions at all stages of this disease using some of the most cutting-edge technologies available.”

The APMMR teams will be led by Kenneth Anderson, MD, and Robert Orlowski, MD, two multiple myeloma specialists.

The AMRF was established by Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson in 2006, after Sheldon Adelson grew interested in understanding why the pace of finding new effective treatments for patients was so slow.

The couple then wanted to test if biomedical research could provide some solutions for this challenge. They formed a pilot program called the Adelson Program in Neural Repair and Rehabilitation to evaluate a new model of collaborative research. The goal was to break down the barriers that had caused investigators to become isolated, without focusing on any particular disease.

In this program, investigators from different disciplines would gather to identify problems and solutions to neurological diseases, pooling their knowledge and resources.

Today, AMRF funds institutions that have the creative science projects with peer approval, following the spirit of this pilot program. The programs encourage investigators to work closely with clinical scientists in an attempt develop therapeutic strategies from preclinical studies.

To date, the AMRF has launched five additional research programs. These include the Adelson Program in Neural Repair and Rehabilitation (APNRR), which aims to manipulate axon regeneration in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves; and the Adelson Program in Cancer Research (APCR), which seeks therapies that target the mechanisms that make cells malignant.