Grants Search Results

Neuroblastoma is a cancer of the cells that become nerve tissues in the body, except in the brain. Dr. Bernstein is studying the effect of a particular mutation in neuroblastoma – an event that alters the DNA sequence to promote cancer. This mutation lies in a gene called ATRX. Dr. Bernstein takes a genomics approach to understand how ATRX mutations promote neuroblastoma in order to discover new therapies for children with ATRX mutations.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Bhakta was awarded a new grant in 2017 to fund an additional year of this Fellow award. While the increase cure rates for many childhood cancers is cause for celebration, researchers are increasingly recognizing the long-term consequences of cancer therapy. Recent studies have shown that survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for developing a wide range of long-term health problems and die at an earlier age due to the lifelong side effects of their curative therapies. Dr. Bhakta is investigating the magnitude of chronic health conditions experienced by survivors to inform future approaches for prevention and early detection to maximize long-term survival and quality of life.

A portion of the grant was generously supported by the Morgan and Friends Fund created to honor Morgan Loudon and celebrate her strength and determination as a cancer survivor while rallying family and friends to "battle on" in the search for cures and better treatments.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Brinkman was awarded a new grant in 2018 to fund an additional year of this Scholar grant. Survivors of childhood brain tumors are at-risk for problems with developing social relationships. These problems can lead to feelings of isolation, loneliness and social anxiety. Dr. Brinkman believes this is due to changes in a survivor's brain due to their cancer and its treatment. Dr. Brinkman's research aims to examine how the structure and function of the brain is related to survivors' understanding of social information and their social behavior. These results aim to help with the identification of treatments for social problems.

This new award is generously supported by the Team Campbell Foundation, established in memory of Campbell Hoyt, who courageously battled anaplastic ependymoma, a rare cancer of the brain and spine for five years. Its mission is to improve the lives of families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis through raising awareness, funding research and providing psycho-social enrichment opportunities.

The chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer do not always work, because only a small amount of the drug ever gets to the tumor. Also, these drugs are very toxic to the patient. However, if we package the drugs into little packets called nanoparticles, we get a lot more drug into the tumor because their blood vessels are leaky. Also, the nanoparticles are too big to get into most normal tissues. Dr. Brodeur's Invictus Fund St. Baldrick’s Research Grant aims to find successful ways to give less total drug, have a much greater effect on the tumor, and have much less toxicity to the patient.

This grant is funded by and named for the Invictus Fund, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund created in memory of Holden Gilkinson and honors his unconquerable spirit in his battle with bilateral Wilms tumor by funding cures and treatments to mitigate side and late effects of childhood cancer.

Leukemia is a form of blood cancer, and is the most common cancer in children. Overall, cure rates for children with some forms of leukemia is very high (almost 90%). However, when leukemia occurs in babies, the cure rate is only 40%. Dr. Brown has discovered that these leukemias may be harder to cure because the cancer cells have abnormal ways of organizing their DNA. Dr. Brown's research aims to understand this better to develop new treatments that will reverse this abnormal DNA organization and make the leukemias easier to cure.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Chertok was awarded a new grant in 2018 to fund an additional year of this Scholar grant. The immune system efficiently fights infections in the normal brain, but malfunctions in brain tumors. Dr. Chertok hopes to empower the immune system to fight tumors by delivering agents that alter immune system activities. To do this, Dr. Chertok's research aims to develop tiny devices the size of blood cells that carry agents in the blood stream and release them with pre-designed timing after localized activation from outside the body. These devices will be used to modify how the immune system responds to brain tumors. This approach could lead to safe and effective therapies for children with brain cancer.

A portion of this grant is generously supported by Griffin's Guardians, a St. Baldrick's partner. Griffin's Guardians was created by the Engles in memory of their son, Griffin. Their mission is to provide support and financial assistance to children battling cancer in Central New York, raise awareness about pediatric cancer and provide funding for research.

Graft-versus-host Disease (GvHD) is a common devastating side-effect of bone marrow transplantation. More than 50% of children suffer from moderate to life-threatening GvHD after bone marrow transplantation. GvHD results when the primary leukemia-fighting cells in the transplants become overzealous and begin to attack not only the leukemia, but also the patient’s skin, intestines, liver, and mucosa. Dr. Choi has demonstrated that modulating a gene called interferon gamma receptor in these cells preserves the potent anti-leukemia activities while inhibiting GvHD. Dr. Choi's Rays of Hope St. Baldrick’s Research Grant aims to identify the mechanism underlying the actions of this gene to develop safe and efficient therapeutic strategies.

This grant is named for the Rays of Hope Hero Fund which honors the memory of Rayanna Marrero by giving hope through research funding. She is remembered for her infectious smile and energetic spirit which continue to inspire so many.

Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the eye in children that can cause blindness or death. New therapies are needed to combine with existing drugs to save vision, eyes, and lives. Dr. Corson has developed a new chemical that blocks abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye without side effects. By blocking new blood vessel formation, we could starve a growing retinoblastoma tumor of oxygen and nutrients and stop its growth. To determine this, Dr. Corson's research aims to test this new chemical in a model of retinoblastoma, both alone and in combination with an existing drug.

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain cancer in children. Dr. Erdeich-Epstein's research aims to improve medulloblastoma treatment based on its biology. Dr. Erdeich-Epstein and colleagues have identified PID1 as a candidate tumor suppressor after finding that higher PID1 killed medulloblastoma cells and slowed medulloblastoma growth in models. This research is to examine PID1 further to help develop drugs to improve response of medulloblastoma to treatment.

Over the last decades the introduction of multi-agent chemotherapy protocols have resulted in major advances in the treatment of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However the prognosis of patients whose leukemia relapses after an initial transient response to therapy remains highly unsatisfactory with cure rates of less than 40% despite intensive treatment. Dr. Ferrando's research aims to address fundamental questions on the role and mechanisms of genetic mutations associated with chemotherapy resistance to pave the way for the development of improved therapies for the treatment of relapsed ALL patients.

Although germ cell tumors are the most common solid tumors of adolescents and young adults, care and progress has been hampered by fragmentation between pediatric and adult oncology. No major breakthrough in therapy has occurred for over three decades. Limited genetic understanding hampers researchers' ability to tailor therapy or discover new drugs that could change outcomes. This international consortium of the world's leading scientists and clinicians from both pediatric and medical oncology aim to make significant advances in clinical trial design and genomic understanding of germ cell tumors.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: The Malignant Germ Cell Tumor International Consortium (MaGIC). For a description of this project, see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.