Progress is Beautiful

The Pediatric Cancer Research Program at CHLA brings together laboratory and clinical investigators to focus on the most challenging childhood cancers. Current T.J. Martell-funded investigators at CHLA concentrate on the biology and therapy of tumor cells interacting with surrounding normal cells. This research will lead to better treatments, and a better understanding of tumor growth and spread.

The T.J. Martell Foundation has been a driving force behind groundbreaking research at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, with a focus on four distinct, yet interconnected research laboratories.

• The Shen laboratory. T.J. Martell’s support has been instrumental in conducting molecular analyses of prostate epithelial heterogeneity through single-cell RNA sequencing. These studies revealed a surprising level of phenotypic and functional diversity within both mouse and human prostate cancer. 
• The Abate-Shen laboratory. The Martell Foundation's funds have been pivotal in developing a genetically engineered mouse model for lethal prostate cancer that efficiently metastasizes to bone, with a high success rate of over 45%. 
• Dr. Cathy Mendelsohn's lab has made remarkable strides in unraveling the lineage of bladder cancer, revealing that there are two distinct diseases: superficial noninvasive bladder cancer and invasive aggressive bladder cancer. 
• The Drake laboratory is actively investigating the potential of immunotherapy in urologic malignancies; this holds the promise of revolutionizing treatment approaches for individuals with lethal prostate cancer. Dr. Mitchell C. Benson's research centers around effective active surveillance of prostate cancer patients: the 4Kscore blood test predicts the success or failure of patients entering active surveillance protocols. 

The T.J. Martell Psychological Research Laboratories at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center produced significant advances in the psychosocial care of cancer patients, including research into chemotherapy-induced cognitive effects of cancer, doctor-patient communications skills training, interventions for fear of cancer recurrence, and interventions for caregivers. Over the past decade, MSK researchers engaged in groundbreaking breast cancer and ovarian cancer research with the help of funding by the T.J. Martell Foundation.

A subpopulation of cells with stem cell properties was discovered in all cancers studied so far, and can evade immune attack because they lack expression of the antigen-presenting machinery human leukocyte antigen. These cells may be a promising therapeutic target. This would not have been achieved without the support of the T.J. Martell Foundation. In addition, during the past ten (10) years, the teams at Mount Sinai have contributed to findings related to breast cancer prevention and the understanding of certain predispositions with respect thereto, as well as a gene that acts as a switch and activates the aggressiveness of prostate tumor cells.

The T.J. Martell Foundation has supported studies at the University of California San Francisco that have led to a new understanding of brain tumor biology.

Lung cancer investigators funded by the T.J. Martell Foundation at MD Anderson have discovered for the first time that the immune cell populations in different regions within the same tumors are different, a phenomenon termed as immune intra-tumor heterogeneity and the extent of immune intra-tumor heterogeneity is associated with risks of lung cancer recurrence after surgery, therefore, suggested different treatment strategy is needed for different patients. Additionally, several drugs were developed specifically to block PARP-1 (a target protein that is highly expressed in small cell lung cancer [SCLC]) in tumor types such as breast cancer as well as SCLC.

Physician investigators at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center performed critical research with funding from the T.J. Martell Foundation, permitting some of the seminal research in breast cancer genetics, as well as ovarian cancer’s growth and progression. The T.J. Martell Foundation’s support for deep analyses of triple-negative breast cancer patients’ tumors is enabling more rapid advancement of preclinical data from the bench to the clinic and thus, alignment of patients to less toxic targeted therapies. The past several years stimulated several promising discoveries for gastric cancer research, the delivery of more personalized and effective care to patients around the world, and the development of new approaches to target cancers that will not respond to conventional therapies.

Dr. Dhodapkar's research focuses on understanding the early host response to cancer and exploring novel approaches to prevent cancer. His group has identified a novel subset of B cells that may be involved in autoimmune complications following immune checkpoint blockade. Dhodapkar's lab has focused on understanding the early changes that impact the development of monoclonal gammopathies, which are precursors to myeloma. These studies have demonstrated that lipid antigens play an important role in driving a subset of these malignancies. The Drake laboratory is actively involved in investigating the potential of immunotherapy in urologic malignancies. Their research holds the promise of revolutionizing treatment approaches for individuals grappling with lethal prostate cancer. The Winship Cancer Institute’s leukemia research at Winship Cancer Institute is based on the idea of blocking “copper trafficking” in cancer cells, which prevents copper transfer from copper-bound trafficking proteins to copper-dependent proteins. Additionally, Martell funding has been used to support a multi-investigator group that is developing approaches to determine how best to integrate, utilize, and validate data on structural, epigenetic, and expression changes in disease.

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