Grants Search Results

Burkitt lymphoma is an aggressive cancer that occurs in children. Treatment requires intensive chemotherapy, which can have significant side effects. Targeted therapies, which kill cancer cells but spare healthy cells, are urgently needed. As the Jack’s Pack – We Still Have His Back St. Baldrick’s Scholar, Dr. Roth is investigating a promising new drug that kills Burkitt lymphoma by attacking a protein that the tumor needs to survive. This drug may treat Burkitt lymphoma with less side effects than chemotherapy.

This grant is named in memory of Jack Klein who bravely battled Burkitts Lymphoma. Love for this special boy inspired family and friends to rally around him as “Jack’s Pack” with their cry, “We Got Jack’s Back”.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia is an aggressive form of childhood cancer for which the therapy causes many side effects and the survival is 60%. Dr. Sakamoto's lab has found that a protein known as CREB is overproduced in AML cells and is associated with a worse prognosis. This research aims to study the protein RSK, which increases CREB activity in AML cells, and find ways to block RSK as a new approach to treat AML.

Adolescents and young adults with cancer do not receive adequate support and face a higher rate of relapse relative to younger patients. Dr. Schwartz's project is taking a current texting intervention which aims to improve health-related knowledge and engagement, and upgrading the technology and content in order to maximize the impact. This research aims to ultimately help improve the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults with cancer.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Shah was awarded a new grant in 2017 to fund an additional year of this Fellow award. One challenge in caring for solid tumor patients is monitoring treatment response, as doctors currently use radiology studies that are unable to detect residual disease. Circulating tumor DNA is released by cancer cells into the patient’s bloodstream and carries tumor-specific mutations. Circulating tumor DNA could be used as a marker to measure tumor burden by a simple blood draw. Researchers recently developed a tool to measure circulating tumor DNA in lung cancer patients. Dr. Shah aims to design a similar tool for three common pediatric tumors.

This additional grant is made with generous support from the Dorian J. Murray Foundation which was created in honor and in memory of Dorian 'Dstrong' Murray who passed away from Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. The Foundation is committed to provide financial support to families of children fighting cancer, raise awareness and educate people and fund new and breakthrough research.

A portion of Dr. Shah's fellow award was named for the Sweet Caroline Fund, a Hero Fund created to honor the memory of Caroline Richards who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. This fund pays tribute to her giving spirit and her compassion for others by supporting osteosarcoma research to help kids with cancer.

Ewing sarcoma is the second most common bone tumor in children and adolescents, and overall survival is dismal for patients with recurrent disease. Dr. Shelat recently identified an "Achilles’ heel" in this cancer, and showed that exploiting this weakness using a three drug cocktail cured the disease more than 80% of the time in models. This project is to validate this weakness as a marker for sensitivity to the drug cocktail in Ewing sarcoma and other pediatric cancers, and to find new drug combinations that better target this weakness.

Most childhood cancer survivors develop complications associated with their treatment and many will require hospitalization. Dr. Smitherman is working to determine how often survivors are seen in an emergency department or hospitalized in the first years following completion of treatment. This research is also reviewing which medications are prescribed during this time to better understand what medical complications survivors are experiencing. With this knowledge, Dr. Smitherman hopes to prevent complications and improve survivors' quality of life.

Dr. Sondel has been using an immune-based therapy to treat children with cancer, and is seeing that it is clearly helping some patients. He recently found the presence of an antibody seems to predict which patients will do best with this treatment. This research aims to understand what this antibody is recognizing, and then to determine how it is helping the treatment to work better.

The most common childhood brain tumors are called gliomas. Despite advances in research, the prognosis for the aggressive pediatric gliomas remains poor. Dr. Song is studying how genes important in normal brain development are hijacked to cause brain cells to grow into a tumor and why these tumors are so resistant to treatment. This research aims to increase understanding of the biology of pediatric malignant gliomas and help develop new treatments that will ultimately improve outcome of these fatal tumors.

This grant is made with generous support from the McKenna Claire Foundation, a St. Baldrick's partner established by the Wetzel family in memory of their daughter, McKenna. Their mission is to cure pediatric brain cancer by raising awareness, increasing community involvement and funding research.

Relapsed pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia is best treated by allogeneic stem cell transplant, including cord blood transplant. The significant number of children with persistent leukemia prior to transplant are at increased risk of post-transplant relapse and poor survival. As the Georgia and the Peachy Keens Hero Fund St. Baldrick's Fellow, Dr. Summers is working to prevent relapse by engineering cord blood donor T cells to target leukemia. The engineered T cells are infused following transplant to kill residual leukemia. This research aims to demonstrate that these cells are functional in eliminating leukemia.

A portion of the grant was named for the Georgia and the Peachy Keens Hero Fund created in honor of Georgia Moore and celebrates the 5th year past her cancer diagnosis. As a leukemia survivor, she inspires others to "just keep swimming" in raising awareness, hope, and research dollars.

Ewing sarcoma is a type of cancer that mostly affects children and your adults. This cancer is caused by a type of mutation in DNA called a translocation. Dr. Sweet-Cordero's Team Clarkie St. Baldrick's Research Grant aims to understand how this translocation, called EWS-FLI1, causes cancer in order to find better therapies for children with this disease.

This grant is named for the Team Clarkie Fund created to honor Clarkie Carroll and funds Ewing’s sarcoma research while stimulating greater awareness and inspiring others to believe pediatric cancer research can and will lead to a cure.

Medulloblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor in children. Finding new therapies depends upon a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of medulloblastoma formation. As the recipient of the Hannah's Heroes St. Baldrick's Research Grant, Dr. Van Meir is evaluating the role of a tumor suppressor in medulloblastoma tumorigenesis. Understanding the role of this suppressor could lead to novel therapeutic prospects for children with medulloblastoma.

This grant is named for the Hannah's Heroes Hero Fund created in honor of Hannah Meeson and pays tribute to her fight by raising awareness and funding for all childhood cancers.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Vasquez was awarded a new grant in 2017 to fund an additional year of this Fellow award. Dr. Vasquez, the Tap Cancer Out St. Baldrick's Fellow, is investigating the human immune system's response to pediatric brain tumors and how it can be manipulated in order to develop new treatments. Immune therapies can be highly specific for cancer cells because they target proteins only found on the cancer while sparing the normal cells. This research is using nanoparticles that contain the target protein as well as medications that block other cells that dampen the immune system in order to increase the immune system's ability to kill the cancer cells.

This grant recognizes the partnership with Tap Cancer Out, a jiu-jitsu based 501(c)(3) nonprofit raising awareness and funds for cancer fighting organizations on behalf of the grappling community.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Wasswa was awarded a new grant in 2018 to fund an additional year of this International Scholar grant. Whereas more than 80% of children with leukemia and lymphoma in the United States are cured with chemotherapy, in Africa a diagnosis with one of these diseases is an outright death sentence. To enable adaptation of chemotherapy protocols from the U.S. to treating children in Africa, Dr. Wasswa is studying the prevalent types of leukemia and lymphoma in children in Malawi and how their genetic code may affect response to chemotherapy.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Wasswa was awarded new grants in 2018 and 2019 to fund additional years of this International Scholar grant. Whereas more than 80% of children with leukemia and lymphoma in the United States are cured with chemotherapy, in Africa a diagnosis with one of these diseases is an outright death sentence. To enable adaptation of chemotherapy protocols from the U.S. to treating children in Africa, Dr. Wasswa is studying the prevalent types of leukemia and lymphoma in children in Malawi and how their genetic code may affect response to chemotherapy.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Lian was awarded new grants in 2018 and 2019 to fund additional years of this International Scholar grant. Based on progress to date, Dr. Lian was awarded a new grant in 2018 to fund an additional year of this International Scholar grant. MYCN-driven neuroblastoma accounts for about 30% of neuroblastomas and is associated with an extremely poor prognosis. Casein Kinase 2 (CK2) is an enzyme that is currently in clinical trials to treat multiple cancers. However, its efficacy on MYCN-driven neuroblastoma remains unknown. Dr. Lian's research aims to test if CK2 inhibition can serve as a new strategy to treat MYCN-driven neuroblastoma. A portion of this grant was named for The Amanda Rozman Pediatric Cancer Research Fund, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund created in memory of Amanda Rozman and honors her courageous battle with neuroblastoma by funding promising new treatments and clinical trials in the area of translational research.

This grant funds a medical student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. The experience may encourage them to choose childhood cancer research as a specialty.

This grant funds a doctoral student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. The experience may encourage them to choose childhood cancer research as a specialty.

This grant funds an undergraduate student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. The experience may encourage them to choose childhood cancer research as a specialty.

This grant funds a medical student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. The experience may encourage them to choose childhood cancer research as a specialty. The “Tough Like Ike St. Baldrick’s Summer Fellow” is funded by the Yarmon family whose son, Isaac is battling B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and is named in honor of his courage and strength.

This grant funds a medical student to complete work in pediatric oncology research for the summer. The experience may encourage them to choose childhood cancer research as a specialty.