Bronx Blood Research Fund

Mission  

The Bronx Blood Research Fund (BBRF) provides excellence in research and advances therapy and management of the thalassemias and the hemoglobinopathies, two major groups of blood disorders.

Research 

BBRF advances research and education through a 'bench-to-bedside' and 'bedside-to-bench' approach to improve care for patients with thalassemias and hemoglobinopathies at local, national, and global levels. With decreasing government funding for rare blood disorders, securing additional research support is essential to drive scientific and therapeutic progress.

With a multidisciplinary team of expert clinicians and researchers specializing in blood disorders, BBRF is dedicated to improving care for patients with limited healthcare access in the Bronx and beyond. The foundation focuses on developing innovative approaches to managing severe anemia and genetic conditions affecting red blood cell production. BBRF uniquely integrates education, treatment, and research to enhance care and outcomes for patients and their families.

• The Bronx Blood Research Fund sponsors fellowships for young investigators who conduct significant red cell research on either a basic, translational, or clinical level.
• Clinical trials aid the translation of research for potential new therapies by enabling new approaches. Results from clinical trials inform the basic research and further advance therapy ("bedside-to-bench"). BBRF funds recruitment and retention efforts in clinical trials, including support personnel such as clinical coordinators, research nurses, and data managers who recruit for and maintain studies.
• BBRF provides support for basic research in hemoglobinopathies that will facilitate the development of novel concepts for treatment and undertake the bench-to-bedside (translational) research to transform these new important concepts into innovative therapies.
• BBRF funds continuous programs such as the transgenic mouse facility, a facility that designs and develops desired transgenic animal models to test novel concepts as therapeutic strategies for patients with blood diseases. Producing and maintaining transgenic mice in a medical facility allows initial therapeutic and translational research to be performed without worry of potential human toxicity. BBRF allows investigators to plan their studies knowing that these highly specialized genetically bred mice, so vital for the initial (pre-human) therapeutic experimentation, are available when needed.
• BBRF investigators confer and often collaborate with their counterpart international experts in the field. They interact with legal, financial, and nongovernmental organizations that have expertise in developing and maturing new therapies.

Education  

The BBRF recently sponsored a Red Cell Symposium with talks and discussions spanning the many different pathologies of the red cell, including thalassemia, malaria, sickle cell, vessel wall interactions, and transfusion pathology. These meetings, to be held yearly, are venues for interaction and interchange of ideas.

Beginning in 2013, BBRF will host Montefiore Medical Center’s Sickle Cell Awareness Day. Efforts will include posters, flyers, public sickle testing, and opportunities for the community to have direct interaction with knowledgeable medical staff who can answer medical questions. BBRF education efforts will develop programs with the help of web-based communications and social media, and these “awareness days” will be tailored to each destination as BBRF extends globally.

Additionally, Bronx Blood Research Fund investigators deliver lectures on sickle cell disease to academic communities throughout the country by request.