# Blood Cell Development and Function Program (02)

> **NIH NIH P30** · RESEARCH INST OF FOX CHASE CAN CTR · 2020 · $39,433

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT – BLOOD CELL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION PROGRAM
The Blood Cell Development and Function (BCDF) Program is led by Balachandran and Wiest, and is
comprised of 21 Primary and 6 Collaborating Members. Program funding is $7M (project direct costs) of which
$6.1M is peer-reviewed and $1.9M is from the NCI. In addition to funded laboratory investigators, the Program
includes 7 clinicians/clinical researchers, whose expertise and translational scientific interests are vital to inter-
and intra-programmatic collaborations, and to accelerate translation of research findings to new insights and
treatments for patients. Program members are highly productive and interactive: 11% of 305 publications are
intra-programmatic, 17% are inter-programmatic, and 31% were published in high-impact journals.
The scientific mission of the BCDF Program is to define how perturbations in control of cell fate decisions can
lead to the development of blood cancers, to delineate how inflammation within a solid tumor can influence
tumor progression, and to capitalize on the unique interactions between cells of the immune system and their
targets to improve cancer immunotherapy. All members of this basic science program participate in cancer-
relevant research, and over the past funding cycle, many basic science observations have advanced to
translationally-focused studies. Highlighted examples underscore this “basic-to-translation” trajectory.
The mission of the Program is pursued through three inter-related themes: 1) to define processes that control
hematopoiesis and assess their relevance to the etiology of hematologic malignancies (Development theme);
2) to define how the inflammatory response prevents or controls infections, and to apply that knowledge to how
cancers develop and how they can be targeted (Inflammation theme); and 3) to explore how the action of
immune cells and their soluble products (e.g., interferons) is controlled, with the ultimate aim of exploiting these
insights to identify patients that are unresponsive to immunotherapy and to apply these insights to reverse
immune exhaustion and restore vigorous anti-tumor immune responses. Specifically, BDCF investigators seek
to identify non-responders prior to treatment and determine how to expand the number of patients who could
benefit from such approaches (a developing Immune Effectors theme). Common scientific interests among
investigators in this Program, coupled with new and extant inter- and intra-programmatic collaborations, enable
synergies that interconnect these themes. Investigators within this Program benefit extensively from CCSG-
supported Shared Resources, and rely heavily on the establishment and use of animal models. Consequently,
many are major users of the Laboratory Animal Facility, including its zebrafish module, and the Transgenic
Mouse Facility. Additional, cutting-edge technologies also further these themes, including multi-parametric flow
cytometry, laser capture mi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9996583
- **Project number:** 5P30CA006927-55
- **Recipient organization:** RESEARCH INST OF FOX CHASE CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** SIDDHARTH BALACHANDRAN
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $39,433
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-07-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9996583

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9996583, Blood Cell Development and Function Program (02) (5P30CA006927-55). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9996583. Licensed CC0.

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