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Press Release

$393,964 Awarded to University of California, San Francisco to Help Fight Childhood Cancer


September 17, 2014
    • Press Release
    • For Immediate Release

 

  • Media Contact:
    • Traci Shirk
    • 626.792.8247 ext. 250
    • traci@stbaldricks.org

$393,964 Awarded to University of California, San Francisco to Help Fight Childhood Cancer

Part of More than $24.7 Million Awarded in New Grants by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO (September 17, 2014) – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, is proud to award a total of $393,964 to support the work of three physician-scientists at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Benjamin Braun, M.D., Ph.D., was awarded an extended St. Baldrick’s Scholar grant of $115,000 to fund another year of his research. Dr. Braun’s project aims to discover how cancer stem cells are affected by mutations that activate RAS genes, which harbor mutations that cause one-third of human cancers. In pediatric oncology, RAS mutations are particularly common in leukemias. This research hopes to use this information to devise novel therapies for treatment.

Elliot Stieglitz, M.D., received a St. Baldrick’s Fellow grant totaling $178,964 for the two-year fellowship. His research studies juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), a type of blood cancer that affects young children and is very difficult to treat. Currently, available treatments cure only half of these patients, with some children experiencing rapid death, while others get better with very little treatment. Unfortunately, no one knows why this happens. Dr. Stieglitz is using the latest breakthroughs in scientific technology to determine why some patients benefit from treatment while others do not.

Kevin Shannon, M.D., received a one-year St. Baldrick’s Research grant totaling $100,000. Children who are successfully treated for cancer sometimes develop a second cancer due to treatment with radiation and chemotherapy drugs. Leukemia is one of the most common types of secondary cancer, and treatment-induced leukemia is extremely aggressive and very hard to cure. Chromosome 7 is often deleted in this type of leukemia. Dr. Shannon recently created models with deletions similar to those found in children with treatment-induced leukemia. His team is using these models to understand how these leukemias develop, why they are so hard to treat, and to test new therapies. This grant is named in memory of Kenneth and Mary Ellen Wilson, parents of Todd and Jason Alonzo. Their legacy of giving and generosity lives on in the service and dedication of their children.

About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. Since 2005, St. Baldrick’s has awarded more than $152 million to support lifesaving research, making the Foundation the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants. St. Baldrick’s funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts in the world and to younger professionals who will be the experts of tomorrow. Funds awarded also enable hundreds of local institutions to participate in national pediatric cancer clinical trials. For more information about the St. Baldrick’s Foundation please call 1.888.899.BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.

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