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Based on progress to date, Dr. Conneely was awarded a new grant in 2022 to fund an additional year of this Fellow award. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second most common blood cancer in children and is difficult to cure. About one quarter of children with AML have a form of the disease called core binding factor (CBF) AML. Despite intense therapy, cancer will come back in one out of three children with CBF-AML. We want to find new ways to treat this common form of AML by learning how the specific combination of mutations in the cancer cells affect their ability to grow and survive. Some patients with CBF-AML have unique mutations that can stop cells from correctly fixing damage, allowing them to grow too quickly. The project will study how these mutations contribute to CBF-AML cells' development, growth, and survival, affecting the cancer cells' ability to grow using cancer cells with these unique mutations. This will help in understanding how this type of AML develops, and may lead to new ways to treat children with this disease.

This grant is generously supported by Double Deckers Destroy AML, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund. Joel and Seth were not only identical twins but best friends. In an ironic twist of fate, both boys were diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia just three months apart. With the overlapping diagnoses and treatments, the family was separated for months at a time and looked forward to days when they could be together at home. Joel and Seth both received bone marrow transplants and endured complications from the procedures. Sadly, both boys relapsed. Surrounded by their loving family, Joel died in November 2017 at the age of three, followed by Seth in May, 2019 when he was four years old. The twins were named as 2020 Ambassadors for St. Baldrick's so their story can continue to inspire many. The Double Deckers Destroy AML Hero Fund was established because the Decker family strongly believes more research is needed for AML, especially when the disease has relapsed. They want to support research so other families won’t have to say goodbye too soon.