Grants & Funding Opportunities
Supporting the Future of Myeloma Research
For more than 25 years, the MMRF has fueled innovation and collaboration to accelerate scientific breakthroughs in multiple myeloma. Through our grants and research awards, we invest in ideas, people, and partnerships that drive progress toward new treatments and cures. To date, the MMRF has supported nearly 400 research projects across more than 200 institutions worldwide—advancing discovery and building the careers of hundreds of researchers and clinicians, many of whom are now leaders across the world's major myeloma centers. We offer a range of funding opportunities, from early-career investigator awards to large-scale collaborative grants, each designed to advance scientific insight and improve outcomes for patients.
MMRF Scholars Program
The MMRF is committed to advancing research and improving outcomes by ensuring that the investigators and care teams serving myeloma patients reflect the diversity of the patients themselves. The MMRF Scholars Program supports the career development of promising clinical and laboratory researchers who have meaningful connections to the communities most impacted by multiple myeloma.
Applicants must hold a PhD, MD, or equivalent degree—or are planning to defend their PhD within 12 months of the application date—and may not hold a title higher than assistant professor or equivalent at a U.S. institution at the time of the award. Applicants must propose a clinical, translational, or basic science project relevant to multiple myeloma. The Scholars Program will provide up to $400,000 of financial support over four years ($100,000/year) to successful applicants. Black/African American applicants with a strong interest in the multiple myeloma patient population are strongly encouraged to apply.
Key Dates:
- April 6, 2026 – RFA Issued
- June 30, 2026 – Application Deadline
- August 14, 2026 – Applicant Notification
Download the full RFA | View PDF
The MMRF Scholars Program is supported by Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Award Recipients
Camille Edwards, MD (2024)
Mapping the Molecular Mechanisms of Disease Progression in Myeloma and AL Amyloidosis
Eden Biltibo, MD (2023)
Identifying Effective and Cost-Conscious Maintenance Daratumumab Dosing
Joselle Cook, MBBS (2023)
Prevalence of MGUS Among Unique Populations of Black People
MMRF Research Fellowship Program
The MMRF Research Fellowship Program supports early-career investigators pursuing innovative basic and clinical research in multiple myeloma and its precursor conditions. By empowering emerging scientists at a pivotal stage in their careers, the program aims to advance understanding of myeloma biology, disease risk, treatment response, and relapse.
The program is designed for postdoctoral researchers, clinical fellows, and junior faculty working under the supervision of a qualified research mentor in the myeloma field. Fellows receive up to $75,000 in research support for one year to accelerate promising ideas, generate foundational data, and position investigators for long-term success in myeloma research.
Areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Host immunity in multiple myeloma
- Disease monitoring
- Diagnosis and treatment disparities
- Innovative data solutions
Key Dates:
- May 1, 2026 – RFA Issued
- July 15, 2026 – Application Deadline
- October 1, 2026 – Applicant Notification
Award Recipients
Luis Corchete Sanchez, PhD (2023)
Role of Sex Chromosomes in Multiple Myeloma
Marcella Kaddoura, MD (2023)
Defining the Genomic Landscape of Myeloma With CCND1;IGH Translocation
Ioannis Kostopoulos, PhD (2023)
Bone Marrow Microenvironment During the Natural History of Multiple Myeloma
Enze Liu, PhD (2023)
Utilizing Long-read Technology to Study Splicing and m6A as a Whole
Holly Lee, MD (2023)
Oncogenic Dependencies of anti-BCMA Therapy Resistant Multiple Myeloma
James Nyamataga, MD (2023)
Molecular Characterization of Multiple Myeloma in Tanzania
Dimitra Karagkouni, PhD (2022)
Characterizing the T cell Receptor-Antigen Dynamics in Multiple Myeloma
Santiago Thibaud, MD (2022)
Screening for Pathogenic Germline Variants in Multiple Myeloma
Luz Moreno-Rueda, PhD (2022)
Development of LAMP5 as a Prognostic Biomarker in Multiple Myeloma
Orlando (Bonell) Patino-Escobar, MD (2022)
Multiple Myeloma Cell Surface Antigens in NK Cell Inhibition and Exhaustion
CoMMpass℠ Biospecimen Inventory Access
The MMRF CoMMpass Study is one of the most comprehensive longitudinal datasets ever assembled for a single cancer type, following 1,143 multiple myeloma patients over eight years from diagnosis. The CoMMpass biorepository contains thousands of bone marrow and whole blood tissue samples, including longitudinal samples, that can support new data generation and important discoveries.
The MMRF invites applications requesting access to CoMMpass biospecimens for rapid, hypothesis-driven research projects. Proposed projects may include biomarker discovery or validation, mechanistic studies of disease progression or treatment response, and molecular or functional profiling linked to clinical outcomes.
Applications may be submitted by investigators from academic and non-profit institutions worldwide. For-profit entities interested in accessing CoMMpass biospecimens are not eligible to apply through this RFA but may direct inquiries to [email protected] to discuss access arrangements. This RFA operates on a rolling cycle basis—see key dates below.
Key Dates:
Cycle 1
Application Deadline: September 15, 2026
Notification: November 30, 2026
Cycle 2
Application Deadline: December 15, 2026
Notification: February 26, 2027
Cycle 3
Application Deadline: March 15, 2027
Notification: May 28, 2027
Submit applications to [email protected] with the subject line "CoMMpass Biospecimen Inventory Access RFA 2026-2027 – PI NAME". For scientific and administrative inquiries, contact Chuck Acharya, PhD and Steven Foltz, PhD at [email protected].
Myeloma Accelerator Challenge
In 2023, the MMRF awarded up to $7 million grants to three multicenter translational projects for a period of three years. The projects focus on two critical areas of unmet need in myeloma research: optimizing first-line therapy for high-risk newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and improving identification of high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma.
Pooling resources and samples across a network of institutions dramatically improves the projects’ ability to drive meaningful results. Each project aims to advance compelling hypotheses that are ready for rapid testing in clinical trials, a critical step in the MMRF’s urgent pursuit of a cure for each and every myeloma patient.
The application period for the Scholars Program is currently closed. For more information, please contact us.
Award Recipients
Samir Parekh, MD
Transforming Treatment of High-Risk Myeloma
Dr. Parekh is the director of the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma and section head of Multiple Myeloma at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. He is leading a network of institutions including Albert Einstein Medical College, Hackensack University Medical Center, Stanford University Medical Center, University of California San Francisco, and Washington University of St. Louis. Using cutting-edge technologies, this team will analyze a large cohort of patient samples at the genomic and immune level to understand the critical events that drive high-risk multiple myeloma. The studies have the potential to identify new vulnerabilities that will be further studied using CRISPR gene editing in the laboratory.
Pieter Sonneveld, MD, PhD
A Systems Biology Approach to High-Risk Multiple Myeloma
Dr. Sonneveld, professor of hematology at Erasmus Medical Center, is leading a European network of institutions including Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, University of Turin, and the University of Salamanca. This team will investigate what makes less-responsive, high-risk patients different from other patients with multiple myeloma. By combining different aspects of the disease, researchers will compile an integrated definition of high-risk multiple myeloma, a key step to develop new treatments specifically designed for these patients.
Sagar Lonial, MD
Clinical & Multi-Omics Platforms to Define High-Risk Smoldering Multiple Myeloma
Dr. Lonial, chief medical officer at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, is leading a network of institutions including Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This team will develop an improved definition of high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) through the generation and analysis of new SMM patient data. These include the use of cutting-edge technologies and a large, collaborative set of patient samples, with the goal of better defining which patients are suited for early intervention, which types of interventions can have the greatest impact, and which patients can safely be observed due to a low risk of disease progression.