Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma (RAFL) Program

Funding for targeted research to better understand disease mechanisms, develop more efficacious treatments and improve the outcome for Follicular Lymphoma patients.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) funds cutting-edge research around the world for every type of blood cancer, including leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and other rare types of blood cancers.

The LLS and The Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation (IFLI) are jointly funding the Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma (RAFL) Program. A total of $20 million will be invested over the next seven years to encourage innovative research that addresses some of the most challenging problems in Follicular Lymphoma (FL). It is anticipated that there will be two funding cycles: RAFL-I opening in 2024 with funding commencing in 2025 and RAFL-II opening in 2026 with funding commencing in 2027.

Applications are invited for innovative research to understand the fundamental biology of FL progression, to develop new targets and therapies, and to launch clinical programmes that can address the unmet FL patient needs. Ultimately, the overarching aim is to achieve a cure for FL. Projects may cover discovery, translational and clinical research. The research focus areas are:

• New Therapeutic Development – development of new chemical entities and other therapeutic approaches is needed to address disease heterogeneity and resistance/relapse.
• Target Identification – leveraging innovation in genomics, computational biology, and data science for identification of novel therapeutic targets.
• Follicular Lymphoma Biology – research programmes to identify and understand the cellular and molecular determinants of tumour heterogeneity driving FL progression, treatment resistance, and transformation.
• Biomarker Discovery and Development – identifying and validating biomarkers for use in therapeutic development and treatment.
• Monitoring and Diagnostics – leveraging innovation in next-generation sequencing to diagnose relapse before clinical or radiological evidence, optimise treatment response and inform treatment selection. Plasma-based methods have the potential to improve monitoring and enhance patient quality of life.
• Translational tools and technologies – using innovative new technologies to address key unmet needs in follicular lymphoma research and treatment.

Within the programme, two types of grants will be offered:

• Synergistic Team Awards (STA) – will support a coordinated, focused and significant effort to understand central disease mechanisms and develop effective novel therapies in treating FL. The research programme must be led by a single programme director (PD) and consist of 2-4 distinct but synergistic projects. One of the Project Leads may be the PD. Project Leads may be at the same or different institutions. One award will be made in FAFL-I.

• Translational Awards (TRL) – will support translational research that moves potential therapeutic candidates toward clinical trials within 2-3 years. Projects must be led by a single PI, but may have a Co-PI. Up to two awards will be made in RAFL-I.