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Based on progress to date, Dr. Dharia was awarded a new grant in 2020 to fund an additional year of this Fellow award. Despite progress made in the treatment of pediatric cancers, several childhood cancers, such as high-risk neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma, continue to have poor survival rates. It is critical that we identify new therapies for these cancers, especially now that we are learning how cancers are driven by specific changes in proteins that bind DNA and control transcription. Researchers are beginning to identify potential vulnerabilities in cancers by systematically deleting almost every single gene in a cancer cell, and describing in greater detail the mutations and other events that occur in pediatric cancers. As the Julia's Legacy of Hope St. Baldrick's Fellow, Dr. Dharia and his team are integrating data from such approaches to discover specific vulnerabilities in high-risk neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. Different types of cancer cells require different instructions or programs to survive, and Dr. Dharia proposes the identification of these programs will lead to new targets to treat these cancers. By identifying, validating and characterizing new targets for treatment of these childhood cancers, Dr. Dharia hopes to discover new therapies for cancer care. This research will take advantage of drugs that are already available and ideally identify completely new ways to treat these cancers.

This grant is named for Julia's Legacy of Hope, a Hero Fund that honors her positive, courageous spirit and carries out her last wish: "no child should have to go through what I have experienced". Diagnosed at 16 with Ewing sarcoma, Julia fought cancer and survived only to be stricken by a secondary cancer as a result of treatment. Her family hopes to raise awareness and funds for research especially for Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) patients.