The Mastocytosis Society, Inc. (TMS) awards grant funding for mastocytosis and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) research. Below is a list of our award recipients from recent years. This page will be updated as new publications or presentations related to TMS-funded research are identified.

TMS thanks all of those listed below and previous awardees for their dedication to mast cell disorder research!

2018 TMS Research Award in Pediatric Mastocytosis, including Related Disorders of Pediatric Mast Cell Activation – Catalano Family Grant through Wyatt’s Warriors

This grant award was funded by TMS, thanks to a generous donation from the Catalano Family through Wyatt’s Warriors.

Award amount: $50,000

Award recipient:

Anupama Ravi, MD

Mayo Clinic Program for the Study of Mast Cell and Eosinophil Disorders

Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Co-investigators:

Joseph Butterfield, MD

Jeffrey Meeusen, PhD

Leslie Donato, PhD

Angela Mattke, MD

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Title:   Excretion of Mast Cell Mediators in Pediatric Mastocytosis and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

2018 TMS Research Award in Pediatric Mastocytosis, including Related Disorders of Pediatric Mast Cell Activation – Karen and Jim Houghton Grant

This grant award was funded by TMS, thanks to a generous donation from Karen and Jim Houghton.

Award amount: $60,000

Award recipient:

Olivier Hermine, MD, PhD, and Leila Maouche Chrétien, PhD

Necker Children’s Hospital/Imagine Institute, National Reference Center of Mastocytosis, Paris, France

Title:   Translational Studies on Pediatric Mastocytosis for Identification of New Pathways of Transformation and of New Potentially Effective Treatment of Both Pediatric and Adult Mastocytosis

2018 TMS Research Award in Pediatric Mastocytosis, including Related Disorders of Pediatric Mast Cell Activation – Karen and Jim Houghton Grant

This grant award was funded by TMS, thanks to a generous donation from Karen and Jim Houghton.

Award amount: $60,000

Award recipient:

Matthew Giannetti, MD

Co-investigator:  Mariana Castells, MD, PhD

Department of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology

Center of Excellence for Mastocytosis

Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Boston, MA

Title:   Identification of Novel Pathways in the Transcriptome of Human Mast Cells from Children and Adults with Cutaneous Mastocytosis

2017 TMS/AAAAI Research Award in Mastocytosis and/or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award is a 1 year joint offering from TMS and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), with each organization contributing $30,000.

Award amount:   $60,000

Award recipient: 

Jeremy O’Sullivan, PhD

Division of Allergy/Immunology

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Title: Targeting Mast Cells through Siglec-6

2015 TMS/ARTrust^TM Research Award in Mastocytosis and/or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award was a 1 year joint offering from TMS and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, with each organization contributing $30,000.

Award amount:   $60,000

Award recipient:   

Jonathan Lyons, MD

Assistant Clinical Investigator

Genetics and Pathogenesis Section

Laboratory of Allergic Diseases

National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health

Title:    Convergence of Autosomal Dominant Familial Tryptasemia and Mast Cell Associated Disorders

Resulting Publication(s)/Presentation(s):

Lyons JJ, Yu X, Hughes JD, Le QT, Jamil A, Bai Y, et al. Elevated basal serum tryptase identifies a multisystem disorder associated with increased TPSAB1 copy number. Nat Genet. 2016 Dec;48(12):1564-9.

Lyons JJ, Stotz SC, Chovanec J, Liu Y, Lewis KL, Nelson C, DiMaggio T, Jones N, Stone KD, Sung H, Biesecker LG, Colicos MA, Milner JD. A common haplotype containing functional CACNA1H variants is frequently coinherited with increased TPSAB1 copy number. Genet Med. Sep 21 2017.

2015 TMS Research Award in Mastocytosis and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award was funded by TMS.

Award amount:   $10,000

Award recipient:   

Celalettin Ustun, MD

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine

Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation

University of Minnesota

Title:   Mastocytosis in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) with Core Binding Factors (CBF)

Resulting Publication(s)/Presentation(s):

13th Annual Meeting of the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis –Munich, Germany, October 8-10, 2015

Title: Occult Mastocytosis and KIT D816V in CBF AML

Ustun C, Morgan E, Moodie EEM, Pullarkat S, Yeung C, et al. Core-binding factor acute myeloid leukemia with t(8;21): Risk factors and a novel scoring system (I-CBFit). Cancer Med. 2018; 1-9.

2014 TMS/ARTrust^TM Research Award in Mastocytosis and/or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award was a 1 year joint offering from TMS and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, with each organization contributing $30,000.

Award amount:         $60,000

Award recipient:

Tanya Laidlaw, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Associate Physician, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Title:   Characterization of a Novel Growth and Survival Factor for Human Mast Cells

2014 TMS/Mastokids Research Award in Pediatric Mastocytosis and Pediatric Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award was a joint offering from TMS and Mastokids, with $20,000 contributed from TMS and $20,000 from Mastokids.

Award amount:   $40,000

Award recipient:

Richard Stevens, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Collaborators:  Mariana Castells, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Matthew Hamilton, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

(current Principal Investigator of grant)

Steven Krilis, MD, PhD, University New South Wales (AUS)

Title:   Importance of hTryptase-beta in Pediatric Mast Cell Disorders

Resulting Publication(s)/Presentation(s):

CD117+ Dendritic and Mast Cells Are Dependent on RasGRP4 to Function as Accessory Cells for Optimal Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Responses to Lipopolysaccharide. Zhou S, Tanaka K, O’Keeffe M, Qi M, El-Assaad F, Weaver JC, et al. PLoS One. 2016 Mar 16;11(3)

2014 TMS Research Award in Mastocytosis and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award was funded by TMS.

Award amount:   $25,000

Award recipient:

Theoharis Theoharides, MS, PhD, MD

Professor of Pharmacology, Internal Medicine (Allergy) and Biochemistry

Tufts University, School of Medicine

Title:   Levels of CRH, NT, SP and IL-33 in the serum of systemic mastocytosis and mast cell activation syndrome patients

2013 TMS/Mastokids Research Award in Pediatric Mastocytosis and Pediatric Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

This grant award was a joint offering from TMS and Mastokids, with $35,000 contributed from TMS and $25,000 from Mastokids.

Award amount:   $60,000

Award recipient:

Lawrence Schwartz, MD, PhD

Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology, & Pathology

Department of Internal Medicine

Virginia Commonwealth University

Title:   Monocyte Derived Immunosupressant Cells Inhibit Immune Regulation of Mast Cells in Mastocytosis

2011 TMS Research Award

This grant award was funded by TMS.

Award amount:         $52,516

Award recipient:

Lawrence Afrin, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine

Division of Hematology/Oncology

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)

(Currently Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation, University of Minnesota)

Collaborators:  John Lazarchick, MD, MUSC

Sally Self, M.D., MUSC

Elizabeth Hill, Ph.D., MUSC

Title:   Characterization of Certain Peripheral Blood Cell Abnormalities Potentially Aiding the Diagnosis of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Resulting Publication(s)/Presentation(s):

Afrin LB, Self S, Menk J, Lazarchick J. Characterization of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.  Am J Med Sci 2017, in press, DOI: 10.1016/j.amjms.2016.12.013.

Afrin LB, Self S, Menk J, Lazarchick J. Characterization of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Blood 2016 128:3683.

Afrin LB, Butterfield JH, Raithel M, Molderings GJ. Often seen, rarely recognized: mast cell activation disease–a guide to diagnosis and therapeutic options. Ann Med. 2016;48(3):190-201.

Afrin LB, Wan Z, Hill EG. Characterization Of Common Blood Test Abnormalities Potentially Aiding Diagnosis Of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome: A Preliminary Analysis. Blood 2013 122:5240.

2010 TMS Research Award

This grant award was funded by TMS.

Award amount:         $50,000

Award recipient:

Peter Valent, MD

Karoline Gleixner, MD

Medical University of Vienna

Title:Identification of a new target pathway in neoplastic mast cells as basis for the design of a novel pharmacologic concept

Resulting Publication(s)/Presentation(s):

Gleixner KV, Mayerhofer M, Cerny-Reiterer S, Hormann G, Rix U, Bennett KL, et al. KIT-D816V-independent oncogenic signaling in neoplastic cells in systemic mastocytosis: role of Lyn and Btk activation and disruption by dasatinib and bosutinib. Blood. 2011 Aug 18;118(7):1885-98.

2010 TMS Research Award

This grant award was funded by TMS.

Award amount:   $9,756

Award recipients:

Jonathan Smith, MD

Melissa Snyder, PhD

Michael Cutrer, MD

Joseph Butterfield, MD

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Title:   Cerebrospinal Fluid Tryptase and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Systemic Mastocytosis

Resulting Publication(s)/Presentation(s):

Smith JH, Snyder MR, Weiler CR, Cutrer FM, Butterfield JH. Lack of evidence for intrathecal tryptase synthesis in patients with systemic mastocytosis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Oct;132(4):996-7.