The Medical Excellence Foundation (MEF) pledged to Weill Cornell Medicine a two-year, $200,000 philanthropic gift to support the work of Dr. Olivier Elemento, director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine (EIPM) and a professor of physiology and biophysics.
Dr. Elemento’s research project, entitled “Tumor Takedown: Innovative Precision Strategies for Immune Response Amplification,” aims to advance innovative therapeutic strategies for cancer patients who have developed resistance to current immune-targeted therapies.
Dr. Elemento and his team plan to complete primary screening of patient-derived cancer cell and T cell co-culture models in parallel over the first 12 months. By integrating and validating the data sets in Year Two, they hope to identify targets that enhance immune checkpoint blockade for potential clinical trials and intellectual property for a future startup.
“MEF is a valued collaborator and their generous support is helping to advance this project’s ambitious goals for targeted clinical trials and innovative therapeutic strategies to help cancer patients who have developed resistance to current immune-targeted therapies,” said Dr. Elemento. “We need more engaged and visionary supporters like MEF, which sees the high return potential on such high-risk projects.”
MEF is the philanthropic/nonprofit arm of Medical Excellence Capital, a life-science investment firm. Medical Excellence Capital recognizes philanthropy’s important role serving as the enabling concessional investment to catalyze early-stage academic research and to support its development towards potential commercialization and traditional financing. It established the MEF to provide complementary financial resources to support preclinical and early clinical proof-of-concept work in longevity and chronic disease research.
“Our gift to fund The Englander Institute for Precision Medicine project directed by Dr. Olivier Elemento is a demonstration of The Medical Excellence Foundation’s commitment to underwriting groundbreaking research in the core investment themes of our sister investment company, Medical Excellence Capital, LLC.,” John Prufeta, chairman of the Medical Excellence Foundation commented. “The gift also adds a new dimension to the long-standing, fruitful relationship between the Medical Excellence companies and Weill Cornell Medicine.”
Dr. Elemento’s project was among several showcased to MEF as Enterprise Innovation’s effort to connect Weill Cornell Medicine inventors and innovators with funding opportunities to de-risk their research and accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into medical products and services that benefit patients.
“Enterprise Innovation is committed to forging relationships with industry and philanthropic entities to source additional resources and funding opportunities so that high-risk and high-reward research by Weill Cornell innovators can advance toward commercial partnership,” said Dr. Lisa Placanica, senior managing director of the Center for Technology Licensing at Weill Cornell Medicine.