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Based on progress to date, Dr. Aumann was awarded a new grant in 2026 to fund an additional year of this Scholar grant. Leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, is the most common cancer in kids. Over the last 60 years, great strides have been made in treating children with leukemia, and today, most leukemias are curable. However, certain leukemias are difficult to treat and have a poor prognosis. In order to better treat cancers, researchers seek to better understand the pathways by which cancer cells develop in order to identify medicines that target proteins in these pathways. Dr. Aumann and colleagues study the fusion protein CALM-AF10 which is found in some leukemias, and found that these leukemias have increased expression of a protein called SIX1. Dr. Aumann is studying how the SIX1 protein makes blood cells turn into leukemia cells, and is using two small molecule inhibitors in combination with other chemotherapy as potential new treatments for this and other leukemias. The hope is that the these studies will clarify the role of SIX1 in CALM-AF10 and other leukemias.