Grants Search Results

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Shand was awarded new grants in 2017 and 2018 to fund additional years of this Scholar award. Leukemia is a blood cancer that kills more children than any other cancer. Dr. Shand's work is based on the belief that leukemia behaves like some infections do, by tricking our body into thinking it's OK to set up shop there. Dr. Shand is studying how leukemia can send these "trick signals" to the part of our body that fights off infections, the immune system. This research aims to understand how these trick signals work, with the goal of turning them off so that the immune system can be used to cure leukemia.

This grant is generously supported by Micaela's Army Foundation, a St. Baldrick's partner which was founded in loving memory of Micaela White who fiercely fought Acute Myeloid Leukemia at the age of 18. Their mission is to raise money to help fund cancer research, education, awareness, and patient support for the cancers that affect children and their families.

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. Dr. Shern's group recently discovered that mutations in 10 genes drive this disease. This research grant is determining whether these mutations can be used as markers of prognosis or response to therapy. Dr. Shern hopes to develop a tool that can be used to better detect and treat rhabdomyosarcoma. If successful, the developed tool can immediately be integrated into clinical trials to improve the current therapy.

This grant is made with generous support from the PFP Fund for Cancer Research, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund created in memory of Peyton Arens and honors his fighting spirit by supporting research that will bring about cures and less toxic treatments.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Zhang was awarded new grants in 2017 and 2018 to fund additional years of this International Scholar award. Though cure rates have improved dramatically, geographic inequities in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy remain evident between developed vs. low-middle income countries. In China, about 7,700 newly-diagnosed children with ALL every year receive therapy thanks to the coverage provided by a special national health insurance scheme established in 2010. With the drastic increase in access to clinical care, the challenge is now shifting from remedying the inability to pay for ALL therapy to delivering better therapy and improving outcome. Dr. Zhang is working to bring improved therapy to China. This represents an unprecedented opportunity for translational research of childhood ALL in China, with potential impacts for a large number of patients.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Zhang was awarded new grants in 2017 and 2018 to fund additional years of this International Scholar award. Though cure rates have improved dramatically, geographic inequities in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy remain evident between developed vs. low-middle income countries. In China, about 7,700 newly-diagnosed children with ALL every year receive therapy thanks to the coverage provided by a special national health insurance scheme established in 2010. With the drastic increase in access to clinical care, the challenge is now shifting from remedying the inability to pay for ALL therapy to delivering better therapy and improving outcome. Dr. Zhang is working to bring improved therapy to China. This represents an unprecedented opportunity for translational research of childhood ALL in China, with potential impacts for a large number of patients.

This grant helps provide necessary resources to increase enrollment in early phase clinical trials for neuroblastoma patients, and support the development of a new MIBG Therapy program to treat neuroblastoma.

This grant funds a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer. Some types of leukemia cells have abnormal genetic material. One of these abnormalities is known to affect the CALM protein, which is essential for the cell to obtain iron from the body that is necessary for cell growth. Dr. Heath believes that leukemias with the abnormal CALM-AF10 protein will not have enough iron and by reducing the amount of iron available to them, the leukemia cells may be affected. This research project attempts to prove that these two mutations can cooperate to form leukemia. Dr. Heath also attempts to show that mutations of WT1 cause cells to function abnormally, which contribute to the development of leukemia. Preliminary work shows that cells with WT1 mutations grow faster and more aggressively. The first model to study the cooperation of FLT3/ITD and WT1 mutations has been created. Ultimately, if WT1 mutations are shown to contribute to the formation of leukemia, the development of a drug that interferes with WT1 could improve cure rates in patients with AML.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Gramatges was awarded new grants in 2016 and 2017 to fund additional years of this Scholar award. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is treated with intensive chemotherapy that results in treatment-related toxicities in 80% of patients, some so severe that the patient does not survive therapy. Dr. Gramatges's research investigates genetic markers characterizing the subpopulation of children and young adults with AML who are at risk for severe treatment-related toxicities. Validation of these markers may lead to upfront screening of individuals with newly diagnosed AML, and in cases where these markers are discovered, modifications to the treatment regimen and closer monitoring to reduce treatment-related morbidity and mortality in this disease.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Ladle was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. While the body's immune system is capable of attacking cancer, many factors prevent this from happening. The goal of Dr. Ladle's research is to develop a vaccine to be given to patients that activates their own immune system to treat their cancer. The project focuses on how the body regulates the immune system to normally ignore cancer. New drugs are being developed that could help take the brakes off the immune system and allow it to recognize and attack cancer. Combining these drugs with a cancer vaccine could provide the boost needed for immune therapies to effectively treat pediatric cancers.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Schuback was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Dr. Schuback's research aims to improve treatment for children with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer. This work focuses on characterizing the scope of mutations in a specific gene, ETV6, in children with AML. Preliminary work indicates that patients with such mutations are more likely to have a poor outcome. This project hopes to use the mutations in ETV6 as a marker to identify patients at high risk of relapse at the beginning of their treatment, in order to predetermine therapies that are most likely to succeed.

AML is a devastating form of leukemia. Therapy for AML is highly toxic and, still, only a minority of patients survive. This project aims to develop new, less toxic, and more effective therapies for AML. Dr. Salstrom hopes to use models to determine exactly which therapies will work best for which patients. This approach, called personalized medicine, allows researchers to treat each child's individual leukemia in the most effective and safest way possible.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Choo, the Tap Cancer Out St. Baldrick’s Fellow, was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Ewing sarcoma is a bone and soft tissue cancer that occurs in adolescent and young adults (AYAs). When the cancer spreads (metastasis), survival falls below 30% despite aggressive chemotherapy and surgery. Fortunately, promising data has identified certain genes that are specifically turned on in metastatic Ewing cells. By developing targeted therapy against these gene products, Dr. Choo hopes to effectively treat Ewing sarcoma. In addition, targeting this unique pathway may reduce the use of conventional toxic chemotherapy agents that can cause cancer themselves. Ultimately, this research may help reduce both morbidity and save countless children with metastatic Ewing sarcoma.

This grant recognizes the partnership with Tap Cancer Out, a jiu-jitsu based 501(c)(3) nonprofit raising awareness and funds for cancer fighting organizations on behalf of the grappling community.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Velasquez was awarded a new grant in 2015 to fund an optional third year of this fellowship. Cancer treatments consisting of the infusion of T cells (one component of the patient's own immune system) that recognize CD19 (a molecule present on many blood cancers) have shown promise in early clinical studies. However, not all patients currently benefit from CD19-specific T-cell infusions. Dr. Velasquez's lab is conducting studies to optimize a new genetic approach with the ultimate goal of developing a clinical study to address this issue.