Grants Search Results

Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia (MPAL) is a subtype of leukemia that shares features of the 2 most common types of leukemia: acute myeloblastic leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Unfortunately, it is really hard to cure with no consensus treatment. When cells divide, chromosomes can break and the pieces can re-attach to the wrong place resulting in a chromosomal translocation. This new abnormal chromosome can result in the expression of a new gene and a new protein, called a "fusion protein". In MPAL, a common translocation involves the ZNF384 gene that can be fused to over 20 new genes, but the consequences are not well understood. Dr Libbrecht has identified that a novel drug that inhibits BRM/BRG1, essential proteins that maintain the DNA structure, and can kill MPAL cells in vitro. Her studies aim to better understand how BRM/BRG1 inhibition affects the ZNF384 fusion proteins and MPAL cells to validate it as novel therapy for MPAL.

In the past decade, new therapies that train the immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells have revolutionized cancer care. Unfortunately, cancers arising from connective tissue like bone have not responded to these immunotherapies. Despite almost four decades of trialing/testing progressively more intensive chemotherapy, outcomes for osteosarcoma (the most common bone tumor) remain dismal once it has spread beyond the initial site. Dr. Smith wants to understand why these immunotherapies have failed by studying a model closely resembling human osteosarcoma. Based on his findings, Dr. Smith will test novel immunotherapies to prioritize the next generation of osteosarcoma human clinical trials.

Dr. Dionysiou and team are studying a small molecule naturally found in the body called miR-21. This molecule could make a treatment called allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), which cures children with aggressive leukemia, safer and more effective. This treatment uses immune cells from a donor, but it can cause a serious problem called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), where the donor cells attack the patient's healthy tissues. The challenge is to stop this attack without weakening the donor cells' ability to fight the cancer. By understanding how miR-21 controls the immune response, Dr. Dionysiou hopes to find ways to prevent GVHD while allowing the donor cells to attack the cancer, making this life-saving treatment safer and more effective.

Dr. Lerman is studying the connection between how aggressive childhood brain tumors called diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) look on MRI scans and the DNA of the tumors themselves. Tumors that look different from each other on MRI scans and have different changes in their DNA grow in different ways. What is not known is how the appearance of the tumor on the MRI scan is related to the changes in the tumor's DNA. By studying this connection, Dr. Lerman hopes to predict how a tumor might grow based only on an MRI scan, which would help patients and families who either cannot or choose not to have a surgical procedure called a biopsy to test the tumor's DNA. Right now, there is no treatment that cures DMG and all patients are treated the same way: with radiation. Dr. Lerman plans to identify groups of tumors that behave similarly, which will help future clinical trials test the right medicine for the right patient.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is harder to cure than most other types of childhood leukemia and lymphoma. Treatments are toxic and require patients and their families to spend up to a year in the hospital. Childhood AML survivors often have serious side effects later in life from their treatment. We need new treatments for AML that are less toxic and more effective. AML is often caused by mutations in a protein called N-Ras that tell the leukemia to grow and divide much more quickly than healthy tissue. If we could shut down this abnormal N-Ras signaling, it would stop the leukemia from growing. Unfortunately, no approved drugs exist that target mutant N-Ras proteins. Dr. Decker and his colleagues are testing a new drug called ABD778 that selectively blocks the growth of AML cells with mutant N-Ras. The results of this research could move drugs like ABD778 closer to the clinic and pave the way for new treatments for childhood AML.

Teens with leukemia go through tough treatments that make them feel tired and weak, so they spend a lot of time sitting and lying down, which can make side effects worse and put them at risk for chronic diseases like diabetes. Dr. Van Remortel is testing ReSeT, a program she developed for teenagers getting leukemia treatment to interrupt sitting time with short exercise breaks that will likely improve their lifestyles, heart health, and quality of life. Over 10 weeks, each teenager will use a Fitbit, health coaching, and an app-based support group to slowly increase their activity. After testing ReSeT in 30 teenagers to see if they can do it and what they think, she will fine-tune ReSeT and test it again in 10 more teenagers and compare how they do with 10 teenagers who didn't get the program to see if the program works. The goal is to use small behavior changes to help teenagers with cancer be more active during and after treatment to improve their lifelong health.

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

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

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is the only site in Florida participating in the Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigators' Consortium (POETIC) and serves as a referral site for the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium. Dr. Libes-Bander and team's goal is to work toward being able to provide personalized medicine for each child to improve cancer outcomes for children. This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD) cares for children diagnosed with cancer in southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. Clinical trials at CHKD allow for children throughout their great region to access novel agents without traveling far from home. This grant supports the Clinical Research Team to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia serves one of the most underserved urban neighborhoods in the nation. This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

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

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

The Renown hematology oncology program was established in 2016 and is the sole provider of pediatric patients with cancer in their region. This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Through the HSHS Wisconsin Clinical Research Institute, children have access to cancer research trials at a location close to home. This grant supports Clinical Researchers to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

At SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, children of all ages receive the highest level of compassionate care, regardless of their family's ability to pay. The skilled professionals at The Costas Center provide multidisciplinary care for a wide variety of cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma, bone and soft tissue cancers, brain and spinal cord tumors and more. Dr. Ferguson and colleagues offer both inpatient and outpatient services in a healing environment designed with children and families in mind. This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

A child diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) today is subjected to essentially the same therapy used fifty years ago. While Drs Mosse and Maris’s research programs have traditionally focused on neuroblastoma (NBL), both labs have recently extended their research programs to other pediatric solid tumors with high unmet need. Here they propose two parallel and complementary projects designed to create new immunotherapies for RMS, with Project 1 focused on the discovery of new immunoncology targets and cellular therapies, and Project 2 focused on the IND-enabling studies of a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed against ALK for fusion positive RMS. This grant is supported by Alice's Arc US Inc. Alice's Arc operates in the UK and USA and is dedicated to funding research into finding a cure and less harsh treatments for rhabdomyosarcoma. The charity has created a global community of families, scientists and doctors coming together to help achieve this mission. Families are at the heart of the work and they can choose to create an Arc in their child/young person's name to represent their experience with rhabdomyosarcoma. This enables funds to be pooled for research, powerful advocacy and a long-term, sustainable platform to grow the charity and fund a pipeline of rhabdomyosarcoma research.

This grant supports funding towards positions to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Many patients treated at the Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation are of minority background, and historically minority patients have not had the same access to health care or medical research. This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Loma Linda University Children's Hospital Foundation works to treat children in the Inland Empire that may be diagnosed with cancer, working to give them the best treatment they can provide. This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.