Grants Search Results

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

This grant supports a pediatric-focused Clinical Research Coordinator to ensure that the children of central New York have a variety of clinical trials so that they do not have to leave the region to attain this level of care, often their best hope for a cure.

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

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cells have been clinically effective in patients with leukemias and lymphomas. Dr. Venkataraman’s goal is to bring similar success in treating a fatal brain tumor in children called DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma). A major obstacle in treating brain tumors with CAR-T cell therapy is a lack of antigens which are tumor specific, or which are absent on normal vital tissues that can lead to off-target toxicities. To overcome this risk, Dr. Venkataraman and colleagues have successfully generated and tested the functionality of a novel “logic-gated” CAR-T cells targeting two distinct antigens, CD99 AND B7H3 that are highly expressed on DIPG but present singly on certain normal cells. This gated “AND” CAR-Ts will have full-activation against DIPG cells having both the antigens while sparing the single antigen expressing normal cells and will now investigate the safety, preclinical efficacy of these CAR-T cells against DIPG and evaluate its translational relevance to DIPG patients.

Children, adolescents and young adults with recurrent or refractory Osteosarcoma have a very poor prognosis, with a dismal 6mo overall survival of less than 5%. Presumably, this poor prognosis is in large part secondary to the development of resistance to chemotherapy and radiation. More recent studies employing therapies that release and activate the patients’ immune cells, called T-cells, and even targeted T-cells have not improved this poor prognosis. Dr. Cairo proposes to investigate novel and innovative methods of combinatorial immunotherapy to circumvent known mechanisms of resistance. Together with colleagues, he proposes to investigate at the bench (in the laboratory) and in models with osteosarcoma alternative methods of combination immunotherapy including natural killer cells (NK) that we have been engineered in the laboratory to also circumvent mechanisms of resistance and to additionally express a single or dual target that are present on the osteosarcoma cells.

They further plan to investigate the efficacy of adding other immunotherapies to enhance the function and persistence of these targeted NK cells with antibodies, and two different NK activating cytokines. They will also investigate the optimal combination of this immunotherapy in children, adolescents and young adults with recurrent or refractory osteosarcoma to determine the safety and efficacy of this approach. Finally, Dr. Cario and team will determine what are the genetic and immune mechanisms of resistance after these novel combinatorial immunotherapy approaches utilizing state-of-the-art laboratory techniques. The goal of this grant is to develop novel combinatorial immunotherapy that will significantly increase the overall survival in children and adolescents with poor risk osteosarcoma.

To make a significant impact for kids fighting osteosarcoma, five funders have banded together with St. Baldrick’s to support this grant – The Helping Osteosarcoma Patients Everywhere (HOPE) Super grant supported by Battle Osteosarcoma, the Faris Foundation, the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund of Children’s Cancer Research Fund, the Children’s Cancer Fund NY (supporting the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital and New York Medical College) and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

CAR-T cell immunotherapies, treatments that use T cells constructed to recognize tumors and kill them, revolutionized how doctors treat children with B cell leukemia (B-ALL). These killer T cells recognize a specific protein expressed on the surface of the leukemic cells. Unfortunately, leukemia frequently relapses and often finds ways to "switch off" the expression of this protein, making T cells unable to track and kill them. This notion is called "antigen escape," as the tumor finds a way to escape the immune treatment. Dr. Aifantis plans to identify ways to avoid antigen escape by boosting the expression of the surface recognition protein. The study aims to validate such mechanisms in an organism using CAR-T cell models and sequencing patient cells. At the same time, Dr. Aifantis will design screens that will help identify surface antigen-specific regulators, so researchers can one day create combinatorial protocols using CAR-T cells and targeting specific antigen surface expression regulators.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: Cellular and Immunological Approaches to Prevent Relapse: Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.