FINDING A TREATMENT FOR LAM
The LAM Treatment Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization exclusively dedicated to fostering and funding research to find a treatment for LAM (lymphangioleiomyomatosis) in the fastest time possible. Each year, this progressive multi-system disease, fatal in the lungs, strikes thousands of women in the U.S. and many more worldwide. Since its inception, the LAM Treatment Alliance has grown to become a critical convener for the field, forging relationships with and among academia, other Foundations, industry, government agencies and other private funders.
Every year, the Alliance brings together hundreds of leading scientists from around the globe for Seminars and Summit workshops dedicated to idea generation, problem-solving and mobilization of new expertise focused on finding an effective treatment for LAM in the fastest time possible. The LAM Treatment Alliance also invests in connecting researchers with patients more swiftly and more effectively through efforts including the MIT Media Lab/ Dana Farber Cancer Institute partnership to create LAMsight (a global patient-researcher informatics system) and the BWH Center of Excellence with a focus on streamlined translational research. The LAM Treatment Alliance chaperones science in order to see that barriers to treatment such as researcher access to critical patient tissues, do not stand in the way. Finally, the LAM Treatment Alliance directly funds peer-reviewed scientific research and high-impact collaborations through targeted research grants and fellowships. The LAM Treatment Alliance often, although not always, funds research projects and project-based collaborations that emerge from the ideas generated through seminars, Summits and over 85 ad hoc meetings with researchers that it coordinates per year.
PATIENT ALERT! Please sign-up to donate tissue…
A major limiting factor in making progress in LAM research is the availability of LAM patient tissue. In order for scientists to get the materials that they need to conduct LAM research, we have been working to create systems throughout the world that permits fast and effective LAM tissue procurement. An effective system has been up and running in the US since last March but the system and the committed and proactive team at the NDRI needs your support to be successful.
Please contact us at info@LAMTreatmentAlliance.org with "Tissue" in the subject line if you are interested in learning more about how you can help researchers fast-track treatment research by gaining critical access to your lung, kidney, lymphatic and other tissues or, to learn how to make progress in LAM treatment research possible by becoming an urgently needed tissue donor, click here.
RESEARCHER ALERT!
The LAM Treatment Alliance has been working hard to ensure efficient access to LAM tissues. We have been working to create systems throughout the world that permits fast and effective fresh and preserved LAM tissue procurement, banking and distribution. An effective system has been up and running in the US since March 2007. Please contact us at info@LAMTreatmentAlliance.org with "Tissue" in the subject line if you are interested in learning more about how you can access LAM patient tissues other tissues or click here for more information.
What's New?
Monthly multi-disciplinary research meetings streamed live from Harvard Medical School:
Live streaming of our monthly LAM/TSC Seminar Series resumes in September 2008! Go to www.LAMTreatmentAlliance.org for summer science meeting news as the hard work continues in labs throughout the world!
For more information regarding past seminars Click here...
Stay tuned to view live streams of past meetings (coming soon!)
We would like to offer our profound thanks to all of our partners who help make the LAM/TSC Seminar Series possible:
To the many researchers and clinicians who attended these meetings from throughout the Northeastern US and beyond, to those who presented discussed, debated, questioned and generated some key ideas, we are so grateful. To the Harvard Medical School Department of Continuing Medical Education and Department of Genetics, the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, Starbucks Coffee, the LAM Treatment Alliance staff and volunteers who give so much of themselves and their time, we are so grateful for your ongoing solidarity in our work to accelerate treatment research.
Special thanks to: Wendy Atkinson; Terry Broderick; Phoebe Bustamante; Kari Carlson; Lara Harisay; David Kwiatkowski; Anna Lei; Meredith Scott; Ella Sexton
Charles Steelfisher & Alipes; Anne Marie Suciu; Laura Uwakwe; Danielle Waldman; Vicky Whittemore and countless others.
Keep Up With Our State-of-the-Science Summits!
Click here to learn more about our problem-solving summits, information about those currently working on the disease, and leaders in relevant fields who have been recruited to help us find an effective treatment.
Debra Messing endorses LTA as her Favorite Charity!
Daily Variety – 8/13/07
Click here to read more...
Career Opportunities!
*Click on Contact Us to see our latest CAREER OPPORTUNITIES!
WHAT IS LAM?
(Lim FAN jee-o LYE-o MY-o ma TOE-sis)
An ugly name for an ugly disease - in urgent need of research funds.
LAM is a metastatic disease affecting the lungs, the kidneys, the lymphatic system, and at times, the brain. LAM is fatal in the lungs as thin-walled cysts progressively destroy healthy lung tissue. It affects women and those who love them. There is no effective treatment and no cure. LAM frequently attacks women in their childbearing years. It kills women from all races, class backgrounds and countries by suffocating them to death. Pregnancy may accelerate the disease. LAM is not hereditary, but does result from one or more genetic mutations.
LAM is caused by a defect in a cellular pathway that regulates cell growth and has been implicated in many forms of cancer (breast cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, lung cancer, colon cancer as well as atherosclerosis, tuberous sclerosis and diabetes). Scientists believe that advancing understanding of LAM represents a relatively clear opportunity to control this growth pathway, and as a result, to help create treatments for thousands of people affected by cancer.
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