Grants Search Results

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children, and the Group 3 subtype is especially aggressive because it spreads early and often returns after treatment. Dr. Hu and colleagues will study a gene called SMARCD3, which normally helps guide how young brain cells grow, mature, and move to the right places as the brain develops. Dr. Hu believes Group 3 tumors hijack this normal developmental program to help cancer cells spread, and that lowering SMARCD3 may shift this tumor toward a less aggressive state. By studying SMARCD3 in models of brain development and tumor formation, Dr. Hu and colleagues will test whether targeting this pathway will reduce tumor spread and improve outcomes for children. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Baoli Hu.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. In African-Americans, an evolutionary mechanism that protects against malaria parasites also causes lower infection-fighting white blood cells (WBC) compared to the general population. This low WBC is called the "duffy null phenotype" (DNP). However, this has been associated with practices that disadvantage certain groups in healthcare, including unnecessary referrals for low WBC, obstacles to enrolling on clinical trials, and unneeded and invasive tests. Treatment for childhood leukemia includes medicines that can slow down the bone marrow, and prevent too many toxicities from treatment. Dr. Wolfson and colleagues plan to carry out a study to see if African-American children with DNP get less chemotherapy due to low WBC compared to children without DNP. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Julie Wolfson.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Dr. Flatt treats and studies acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer, in a clinic that is dedicated to Hispanic children. Most children with ALL have a protein called TdT, which helps doctors diagnose the disease. When TdT is missing, leukemia is often harder to treat. Dr. Flatt's team has found that children in Mexico have TdT-negative leukemia more often than other groups, and many families work or live near farms where pesticides (chemicals used to kill insects/weeds) are used. Dr. Flatt and colleagues will test whether common pesticides can cause leukemia cells to lose TdT and make them more resistant to chemotherapy. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Terrie Flatt.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (ATRT) are extremely aggressive brain tumors that most often affect children under age 3. Current ATRT treatment involves medications that can lead to bad side effects. There is a need to understand more about ATRT biology to improve the outcomes for these patients. Dr. Tsai and colleagues have found that blocking a nuclear export protein leads to ATRT cell death. A nuclear export protein carries other proteins and RNA cargo from the nucleus out to the cytoplasm of the cell. It is known that blocking this process results in cargo getting stuck in the nucleus, however, the identity of these cargo proteins and RNA is not known. Dr. Tsai and team will utilize methods to separate proteins and RNA from the nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments of ATRT cells. Identifying these cargo will allow for understanding of why blocking nuclear export kills ATRT cells, and will give insight into other strategies for targeting these tumors. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Jessica Tsai.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a cancer in which harmful blood cells grow out of control and crowd out healthy cells that the body needs. The immune system is usually able to remove unhealthy cells, but these harmful blood cells are especially good at hiding and continuing to grow. Natural killer cells are an important part of the immune system and act like security guards that clear away dangerous cells. Dr. Wiita and colleagues will modify and improve natural killer cells so that they are better at finding and destroying harmful blood cells in AML. Dr. Wiita and colleagues will provide safer, stronger, and longer lasting treatments for AML patients. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Arun Wiita.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Neuroblastoma is an aggressive cancer that often spreads quickly and contributes to 15% of cancer-associated deaths in children. Dr. Feng and colleagues will use models of neuroblastoma to study how a metabolic enzyme called DLST changes the way tumors grow and communicate with immune cells. Dr. feng's team will increase the DLST amount in tumor cells and use fluorescent imaging to track immune cells and measure tumor size over time. By understanding how tumor metabolism shapes immune responses, the team will identify new strategies to help treat children with neuroblastoma. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Hui Feng.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Many children who survive cancer later develop serious heart and blood vessel problems caused by the treatments that saved their lives. Dr. Sarosiek and colleagues will study why heart and blood vessel cells in children are more sensitive to radiation and chemotherapy than those in adults. Dr. Sarosiek and team will examine proteins inside these cells that control whether a cell lives or dies and determine why younger cells are more likely to be pushed toward cell death during treatment. By understanding this difference, Dr. Sarosiek will find ways to protect healthy vascular and heart tissues in children while still allowing cancer therapies to effectively destroy tumors. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Kristopher Sarosiek.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Ewing sarcoma is driven by an abnormal "fusion" protein called EWS-FLI1 that turns many genes on and off incorrectly. Dr. Leggas and colleagues are developing therapies that disrupt EWS-FLI1, makeing these treatments safer and more effective by identifying new weaknesses that appear when EWS-FLI1 is turned off. Dr. Leggas and team will measure how Ewing sarcoma cells change their metabolism, meaning how they make energy and key building blocks, after EWS-FLI1 is blocked or degraded resulting in guiding future combination therapies that will improve tumor control while reducing toxicity. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Markos Leggas.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Pediatric kidney tumors make up almost a tenth of all childhood cancers and represent a range of diseases that require different treatments. Surgical biopsy or resections are currently necessary to diagnose these cancers but can inadvertently cause disease spread and are invasive procedures. Dr. Crompton and colleagues will work to detect and profile tumor DNA in the blood from children with renal tumors using less invasive methods for detection and diagnosis to improve the upfront management of patients with newly discovered kidney masses. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Crompton.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Children with aggressive neuroblastoma tumors have poor cure rates despite intensive treatment, and new therapies are needed. Seriniquinone is a new chemical compound isolated from bacteria collected from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that has been found to be effective against adult cancer cells. Dr. Zage and colleagues will test seriniquinone to determine its effectiveness against neuroblastoma cells and tumors, and will evaluate cells before and after treatment with seriniquinone to determine how it kills neuroblastoma cells identifying specific genes and proteins that are important for neuroblastoma cell responses and resistance. This will determine whether and why seriniquinone is effective against neuroblastoma, leading to clinical trials using new drugs isolated from previously untested sources for treatment of children with neuroblastoma. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Pete Zage.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Metastatic disease is the primary cause of death in neuroblastoma (NB) patients, yet our understanding of mechanisms controlling it remain poorly understood. Half of all NB patients are metastatic at diagnosis and commonly metastasize to the bone marrow. Recent transcriptional analysis suggests that several types of immune cells are critical for metastasis formation in the bone marrow. The MYCN_TT model efficiently metastasizes to the kidney marrow, making it an effective model to study the bone marrow metastatic microenvironment. Dihydrolipoamide S-succinyl transferase (DLST) has been shown to increases metastatic disease in MYCN_TT. Dr. Anderson and colleagues will define how metastatic infiltrate influences the kidney marrow and how DLST alters the kinetics of the metastatic cascade to promote metastasis in NB. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Nicole Andersen.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children, often recurring due to treatment resistance. The MYC oncogene is central to tumor growth and response by regulating gene expression, but how therapy resistance affects MYC's function in medulloblastoma remains unclear. Dr. Prensner and team will conduct research aimed at studying MYC by mapping MYC's genomic binding sites. The team will measure changes in gene programs controlled by MYC by using cell models that are sensitive and resistant to therapy. Key techniques will include chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and RNA sequencing to identify genes MYC activates in resistant cells. Understanding how MYC reprograms gene expression to drive resistance will help identify new targets to improve therapy and outcomes for affected children. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. John Prensner.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. The overall goal of this project is to assess the ability of small molecule inhibitors of the EYA proteins, XPO1, and Menin to slow the growth of leukemia cells in the petri dish. Dr. Aumann and colleagues will assess the ability of these inhibitors to work by themselves and in combination with each other. Dr. Aumann and team will work to see a "better together" effect –-i.e where two agents used in combination cause more cell death than either would alone -a phenomenon known as synergy. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Waitman Aumann.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Dr. Resar and colleagues will develop new treatments for an aggressive type of childhood blood cancer called KMT2A-r leukemia. Blood cancer (leukemia) is the leading cause of death for all children with cancer. Although many childhood cancers can be cured with chemotherapy, KMT2A-r leukemia is frequently unresponsive to therapy in infants and children. In this cancer, the KMT2A-r gene is abnormally fused (or rearranged) next to another gene, which results in an abnormal fusion protein called KMT2A-r (for KMT2A-rearrangement). This fusion activates or "turns on" genes that cause normal blood cells to grow in an uncontrolled fashion and transform into aggressive leukemic cells. Dr. Resar and team has discovered that another gene, called HMGA1, is turned on by KMT2A-r fusions and required for leukemia cell growth. They have found that "turning off" HMGA1 is toxic to KMT2A-r leukemic cells. Dr. Resar and team will study how to determine precisely how KMT2A-r and HMGA1 causes leukemia in order to identify better therapies. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Linda Resar.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Osteosarcoma is the most prevalent bone cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults, and survival rates are low when the cancer spreads or returns after treatment. Standard treatment for Osteosarcoma has been exclusively chemotherapy for decades, but many tumors have become resistant, allowing the cancer to come back even more aggressively. Dr. Pavisic and colleagues will study the cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and how well they spread to other parts of the body. Dr. Pavisic will examine whether two existing drugs, gefitinib and disulfiram, can stop these resistant cells from moving and growing. This research will better understand how resistance develops and will identify new ways to target the most dangerous cancer cells to improve treatment for children with Osteosarcoma. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Jovana Pavisic.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Medulloblastoma is a rare but aggressive childhood brain cancer. A drug called DFMO, already used to prevent relapse in another pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma, may help stop medulloblastoma cells from growing by putting them into a "senescent," or sleeping, state. However, senescent cells can remain in the body and later cause the tumor to return. Dr. Saulnier Sholler and colleagues will test whether adding a second drug, navitoclax, which can target the brain directly, can eliminate these senescent tumor cells. Dr. Saulnier Sholler will study this approach first in patient derived cells grown in the lab, and then in 3D tumor models. Dr. Saulnier Sholler expects that DFMO will slow tumor growth and that navitoclax will then kill the remaining cancer cells, leading to better outcomes. This will provide the foundation for a future clinical trial and offer new hope for children with medulloblastoma. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Giselle Saulnier Sholler.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Central nervous system tumors are the most common type of solid tumors in children, and medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor. Although survival has improved, many patients still face lasting problems with learning and memory. Dr. Ayad and colleagues will identify tumor cells that are responsive and resistant to standard treatment and test agents alone. In combination this could both slow tumor growth and protect healthy brain tissue. The results will be compared with patient data and tumor samples to connect experimental findings to tumors in children. Dr. Ayad and team will identify promising therapies that more precisely target medulloblastoma while minimizing damage to healthy brain tissue, ultimately leading to better outcomes for patients. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Nagi Ayad.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Treating brain tumors in children is challenging because many medicines cannot reach the tumor. A natural barrier formed by the brain's blood vessels protects the brain but also blocks helpful drugs, and there is still a lack of clear understanding of how this barrier behaves in different pediatric brain tumors. Dr. Straehla and colleagues will study blood vessels across a wide range of childhood brain and spinal cord tumors by selecting samples and building tissue microarrays, which will allow many small pieces of tissue to be analyzed together. The samples will be used to identify proteins found in tumor blood vessels, including potential treatment targets. By comparing findings across tumor types and linking them with patient details, Dr. Straehla and team will create one of the first maps of vascular changes in pediatric brain tumors, informing future therapies. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Joelle Straehla.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Dr. Foster and colleagues are currently working to develop new types of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatments for pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors, the leading cause of cancer death in children. CAR T-cells are engineered versions of a human's own T cells containing instructions for recognizing and killing cancerous tissue. Many centers create CAR T cells using a virus which permanently embeds into the DNA. However, this has posed a risk of different types of toxicities including severe neurologic issues. Dr. Foster and colleagues will test how good CAR T cells work when they have temporary instructions made from mRNA. This project will directly compare the viral and mRNA CAR T cells in models of a deadly brain cancer. The toxicity effects in humans will be minimized while maximizing the cancer-killing power. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Jessica Foster.

This grant funds a student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. Pediatric sarcomas are rare but devastating cancers. Finding targetable vulnerabilities that could be shared amongst the many different types of childhood sarcomas would be beneficial for therapeutic development. Dr. Langdon and colleagues have found targeting the ability for sarcoma cells to shuttle proteins from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is effective against multiple types of childhood sarcomas. Dr. Langdon and colleagues will further explore one of these combinations in Ewing sarcoma. Dr. Langdon will explore new methods to more effectively model the effects of these compounds in 3D culture systems and their effectiveness in other organismal models. This work is being completed under the mentorship of Dr. Casey Langdon.