Research Priorities

Fanconi anemia is a complex disease that involves multiple systems of the body. That’s why our researchers are approaching it from multiple angles. FARF promotes research that focuses on the rapid discovery and development of therapies or strategies that treat, control or cure FA.

We are especially interested in supporting interdisciplinary and translational research efforts that address one or more of our research priorities:

  • To understand how alteration of the Fanconi anemia genes and their products lead to the clinical manifestations of Fanconi anemia.
  • To determine the causes of bone marrow failure, myelodysplasia, and leukemia in individuals with Fanconi anemia, and to develop strategies to prevent, treat and cure these disorders.
  • To define the pathogenesis of cancers that affect persons with Fanconi anemia, and to develop strategies for early detection, prevention, treatment, and cure.
  • To identify practical and proactive management strategies that families and persons with Fanconi anemia can use to develop and maintain a high quality of life
  • To support the creation of shared resources, databases, and technologies for the international Fanconi anemia research community.

The key to solving FA is collaboration! When FARF was founded, we developed key operating principles to facilitate this collaboration:

  • We foster active engagement and partnership of Fanconi anemia families with clinicians and researchers in designing and pursuing our strategies.
  • We invite proposals from collaborative research groups and individual investigators that are responsive to the Fund’s research strategy and advance one or more of the above priorities.
  • We sponsor conferences and symposia with the specific goals of advancing knowledge, publicizing discoveries and fostering the broadest possible collaborations to advance the above priorities.
  • We require all grant recipients and conference or symposia attendees to make data, models, and tools rapidly available in the public domain.

Approved 1/26/2014 by Fund’s Board of Directors