Grants Search Results

The International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) Task Force has collected data on over 11,500 children with neuroblastoma. These data are available to researchers from around the world, and seminal discoveries have already been made using this unique collection of patient data. However, the current application housing the INRG data has significant limitations, and this project develops tools to overcome those. The INRG has recently reported racial disparities in outcome in neuroblastoma, and studies indicate genetic factors contribute to the poor outcome seen in the black cohort. Banked DNA samples will be identified and used to learn the variables contributing to these disparities. The goal of the Interactive INRG database is to transform neuroblastoma research by enabling studies on large international cohorts of patients never before possible. Funds administered by the University of Chicago.  This grant is generously supported by the “Just Do It…and be done with it” Hero Fund created in honor of Sara Martorano and celebrates the courage of all kids with cancer through treatment and the support of their family and friends.

The intensive chemotherapy that is required to treat pediatric acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) results in prolonged periods of extremely low white blood cell counts, which in turn is associated with a significant risk of death from infectious complications. In fact, treatment related mortality is as high as 20% in adolescents and young adults undergoing chemotherapy for AML. This study aims to test potential new therapies that can help overcome the low white blood cell count (neutropenia) that results from intensive chemotherapy, to reduce the risk of infectious complications. Funds administered by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The treatments used to cure pediatric cancers can cause infertility. Banking sperm at diagnosis is the gold standard for preserving fertility for boys who have reached puberty, but is not an option for younger boys who do not yet have mature sperm in their testicles. The prepubertal testicle does contain a small number of stem (parent) cells that will eventually become mature sperm, so one new idea is the use of testicular tissue frozen at diagnosis, then later thawed with the parent cells reimplanted into the testis to mature or matured outside the body and then used with assistive reproductive techniques. This consortium is collecting testicular tissue samples to increase the amount of tissue available for research, in the hope of providing an option for fertility preservation to patients who currently have no options at all.  Funds administered by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

To identify new therapeutic approaches in high-risk childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), this consortium of investigators has performed detailed analysis of genetic mutations in high-risk ALL. Pilot studies have identified over 40 new mutations and chromosomal rearrangements, several of which may be targeted by new treatment approaches. Following this, the group is performing mutation testing of larger numbers of childhood ALL samples to learn the nature and frequency of these mutations. This is the most comprehensive survey of genetic changes in childhood leukemia to date, and is likely to provide crucial new insights into the biology of this disease. Funds administered by the University of California, San Francisco.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a blood cancer that affects the bone marrow stem cell and may lead to acute leukemia. Pediatric MDS is rare and causes are unclear, although associations exist with inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) and Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) significantly predispose to MDS and are linked with disruption of an important organelle in the cell called the ribosome. This new consortium of clinical and basic researchers is studying the biology of pediatric MDS associated with ribosome dysfunction. This project is directly relevant to finding therapeutic targets for MDS, a devastating and understudied form of blood cancer in children. Funds administered by the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.

Neuroblastoma is the second most common solid cancer in children, and only 45% with high-risk disease are cured. The goal of the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT) consortium is to develop and test new therapies with high potential for improving survival. NANT links laboratory and clinical investigators to develop therapies that are tested at 16 North American neuroblastoma centers. Studies are supported by the NANT Operations Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Studies test two new ways to improve elimination of small amounts of tumor cells that remain after high-dose chemotherapy. Funds administered by Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Failure to improve survival of children with brain tumors and minimize permanent and sometimes devastating treatment toxicities reflect the inadequate understanding of the biology and epidemiology of pediatric brain tumors. One of the major obstacles in pediatric brain tumor research is the limited number of patients and tumor samples. By forming a consortium of prominent pediatric neuro-oncology cancer centers in Texas and Oklahoma (Texas-Oklahoma Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium; TOPNOC), these researchers are pooling tumor samples and scientific expertise to conduct innovative, biology-driven clinical trials to improve survival in children with brain tumors. Funds administered by Baylor College of Medicine.

This grant is for Pediatric Cancer Genomics (PGen), a research conference planned for February 2012. Attending will be leaders in national and international translational cancer genomics, to focus on pediatric solid tumors including neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma, Wilms tumor, osteosarcoma, Ewings sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and rare cancers striking adolescents and young adults. Topics will include next generation sequencing, functional genomics, translation, personalized molecularly directed therapy, biology, bioinformatics, and more. The meeting will be hosted by Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, Arizona and is being co-sponsored by the St. Baldrick's Foundation with the QuadW Foundation.

Because of low patient numbers at individual centers, meaningful clinical research in pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) requires collaborative, multi-institutional studies with a large number of relatively small centers. In 2009, the St. Baldrick's Foundation awarded a grant to the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC) to construct a clinical trials infrastructure that would allow high-quality, appropriately monitored, multi-center pediatric trials. This grant continues funding for these important pilot trials to increase safety for pediatric patients after transplant, reduce relapse by giving immune therapy before and after transplant to leukemia patients, and explore the feasibility of new cellular therapy approaches aimed at preventing relapse. Funds administered by the National Marrow Donor Program.

Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a rare lung cancer of young children. Inherited genetic mutations have been recently identified in a gene known as DICER1 that predisposes children to developing PPB as well as other childhood tumors arising in the muscle, brain, ovary and kidneys. This laboratory research is complimented by the first-ever prospective clinical study of PPB therapy that determines treatments with optimal effectiveness for PPB patients. The goal of these collaborative studies is to identify the critical deregulated signals that promote cancer development in order to develop novel interventions to improve outcomes for children with PPB and the related pediatric cancers. Funds administered by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.

This institution is a member of a research consortium which is being funded by St. Baldrick's: the Pediatric Blood & Marrow Transplant Consortium. For a description of this project, "Innovative Pilot Trials in Pediatric HSCT for Malignancies-PBMTC Core Grant," see the consortium grant made to the lead institution: the National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN.