Benefit concert for Trek for a Cure to take place June 15th

The Trek for a Cure is right around the corner, and to celebrate the effort and raise funds, there will be a benefit concert on June 15th in Woodland, CA featuring violinist Emily Wells. The proceeds will benefit research to find a cure for Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Money raised will go to the MPN Research Foundation. Annette De Bow is living with the disease and has dedicated herself to raising money for this foundation. As part of her fundraising efforts, she will be hiking the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail for 3 weeks this summer! For more information see http://trekforacure.com and http://www.mpnresearchfoundation.org.

Gearing up for new round of MF Challenge grants

The applications for the second found of MF Challenge funding will be reviewed on Friday, May 31st in Chicago. In addition to members of the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board, thought leaders from fibrosis will be joining the review panel as the proposals are judged. In addition to scientific merit, the applications will be evaluated based on innovation and likelihood of clinical translation. The proposals will be scored on an NIH scale. Following the meeting, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and MPN Research Foundaiton will jointly decide which projects can be funded during this cycle.

The first round of MF Challenge grants will be evaluated by November 2013.

Chicago MPN Roundtable publishes first article

We've mentioned before about our low-cost, high-quality project titled the MPN Chicago Roundtable. Basically, it is a group of clinicians and researchers representing some of the great Chicagoland hospitals who gather around the MPN Research Foundation conference table to discuss what they're working on individually and what they can do jointly to accelerate and improve treatment options for people living with PV, ET, and MF. 

We are pleased to announce that this group has published it's first joint piece of research titled "Age-related differences in disease characteristics and clinical outcomes in polycythemia vera." The colaborators from the MPN Chicago Roundtable include Brady Stein (Northwestern), Jamile Shammo (Rush), Damiano Rondelli (University of Illinois at Chicago), Toyosi Odenike (University of Chicago) and Laura Michaelis (Loyola). We are so proud that the Foundation has a role to play in helping to pull this group together, all for the cost of a few pizzas, and look forward to what else comes from their meeting of the minds. 

MPN on the web

Lina, a young woman living with Essential Thrombocythemia, blogs about changing her medication and dealing with migraines: http://linampn.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/an-overdue-update/#more-202

MPN Forum is talking about the "silent gene" http://mpnforum.com/the-silent-gene/