Grants Search Results

Medulloblastoma (MB) is an aggressive childhood brain cancer that is fatal in 40% of patients. MB shows abnormal activation of growth pathways in tumor cells which help them to grow. Dr. Ganesan's studies show that there are T cells (immune cells) within MB and they have potential to kill tumor cells. However, immunotherapy that boosts the activity of these T cells have not been successful and it is not known why. The goal of this project is to understand why immunotherapy has not worked in MB and whether immunosuppressive myeloid cells contribute to this restraint. Dr. Ganesan and colleagues will also study if combined treatment that inhibits the growth pathways (targeted therapy) and stimulates the T cells/immune system (immunotherapy) may together lead to greater tumor killing in MB mouse models. To test if combined therapy would work in humans, Dr. Ganesan will coculture a 3D version of patient’s brain tumor with their own T cells expanded from their tumor. If effective, these studies may lead to new treatments for MB.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of childhood cancer with more than 3000 children/adolescents under the age of 20 diagnosed with ALL each year in USA. ALL affects a type of white blood cells called lymphocytes that help the body fight infection and disease. ALL can be broadly divided into either B-ALL or T-ALL. B-ALL affects a type of lymphocytes called B-lymphocytes whereas T-ALL affects T lymphocytes. Historically children with T-ALL have worse prognosis than B-ALL. B-ALL also have better therapeutic options whereas children with T-ALL are limited to therapies with well documented long-term negative effects like chemotherapy, radiation therapy. In this proposal, Dr. Thansapani and colleagues aim to evaluate a new therapeutic approach of nutrient deprivation to treat T-ALL grounded on their strong preliminary finding that T-ALL cells need high levels of the nutrient valine for their growth and survival. Dr. Thandapani's project investigates different avenues exploiting this vulnerability.

The ultimate goal of this project is to define the safest, most effective therapies for children and young adults with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), which aligns with St. Baldrick's mission to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. LCH is a blood cancer most common in children that creates destructive inflammatory lesions that can be fatal. LCH is caused by mutations activating the MAPK growth pathway in developing blood cells. Current front-line therapy fails to cure over 50% of patients with disseminated disease, and safe and effective options for subsequent therapy is not known. High-dose chemotherapy can be effective, but is toxic. MAPK inhibitor therapy alone does not appear to be durable based on early trials. Dr. Allen and colleagues hypothesize that MAPK inhibition will make cells more sensitive to chemotherapy. Dr. Allen will therefore test safety and efficacy of a new approach of combining chemotherapy with targeted MAPK inhibitor therapy.

Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer related death in children. The outcomes for high-grade gliomas in children are dismal. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are genetically engineered cells programmed to target cancer cells with high precision. The application of CAR T cells in brain tumors in children is still limited compared to leukemia. One challenge is that CAR T cells need multiple hits to kill brain tumor cells compared with leukemic cells, where a single hit is sufficient. Dr. Abu Arja and team discovered a subset of CAR T cells that are more potent and can more proficiently kill brain cancer cells by increasing their lethality, making a second hit unnecessary. In this project, Dr. Abu Arja is studying the cellular program of this unique subset of potent killer CAR T cells to better understand why they are superior killers. Dr. Abu Arja plans to use these findings to genetically engineer new enhanced CAR T cells to eliminate tumors in children with brain cancers.

The first year of this grant is funded by and named for the Be Brooks Brave Fund. Despite his diagnosis at age 5 with inoperable brain and spinal tumors, Brooks taught so many people what life is truly about--love. He was BRAVE beyond his years with an inspiring “faith over fear” attitude. This Hero Fund hopes to raise money for high-grade glioma research so no other family will hear the words, “there is no cure”.

Despite remarkable improvements in treatment for children with some types of cancer, pediatric brain tumors remain an area that desperately require more effective and low toxic therapy solutions. Dr. Jun Qi has formed a multi-disciplinary team to identify novel targets for pediatric brain tumors and develop new strategies to suppress the targets for patient treatment. Using a chemical strategy, Dr. Qi and his team aim to disrupt the functions of these targets to effectively inhibit brain tumor cell growth and block tumor progression in the models that resemble the real disease. The study focuses on improving on-target effect and, more importantly, on getting these potential drug candidates into the brain. The proposed study will translate from bench to bedside for patient care and result in a novel therapeutic strategy with significant improvements in survival and reduced morbidity for pediatric brain tumor patients to fulfill the mission of St. Baldrick's Foundation.

This grant is named for the Pray for Dominic Hero Fund. The fund was established in honor of Dominic Liples who lived with joy. He is remembered for compassion and determination while he faced his own difficult battle with a rare and aggressive brain cancer. The Pray for Dominic fund carries on Dominic's legacy of joy and hope by funding research for high-grade gliomas.

Diffuse midline glioma (DMG), previously known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is a deadly childhood tumor with no effective treatments. Dr. Li's project seeks to understand the genetic and epigenetic dysregulation of DMGs. Through cutting-edge single-cell analyses and advanced AI models, researchers aim to map the tumor's epigenetic landscape, identify key regulatory elements, and predict the function of risk mutations. This knowledge could pave the way for new targeted therapies and improve DMG outcomes.

The final year of this three-year St. Baldrick's Scholar grant is funded by and named in honor of the Hannah Levy Miller Fund. Hannah passed away from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) shortly before her 12th birthday. She was an avid reader who loved dancing, playing the cello, and playing soccer. To honor her memory and create a lasting legacy, her family established the Hero Fund to support research for DIPG. This mission reflects exactly what Hannah would have wanted—to help other children and families facing this devastating disease.

The first year St. Baldrick's Scholar award is funded by and named for #Joe Strong 71, a St. Baldrick’s Hero Fund created in memory of Joe Purdue. Joe was a talented football player and cherished friend and son. He was diagnosed with DIPG shortly after graduating from high school, cutting short his plans to attend college. He is remembered for determination as he battled the most lethal form of brain cancer. #Joe Strong 71 carries on Joe's legacy by funding research for DIPG.

Allogeneic cell therapy is a new approach to cancer treatment that harnesses living cells from healthy donors to fight tumors. To do so, immune cells are isolated from blood and incubated outside the body to expand subsets capable of killing cancer. Dr. Jonus and colleagues have shown that gamma delta (gd) T cells expanded from healthy adults help to eradicate neuroblastoma grown in models. Based on this,Dr. Jonus and team are performing a first-in-child clinical trial of gd T cells for patients with neuroblastoma. Going forward, Dr. Jonus's findings show an opportunity to make gd T cell therapy more effective by expanding a new type of gd T cell, Vd1, with unique properties that should improve both the cell therapy's fitness and its ability to infiltrate into solid tumors. In parallel for a potent second-generation therapy, Dr. Jonus will engineer Vd1 gd T cells to 1) express receptors that help them better recognize neuroblastoma and 2) evade immune recognition so that the therapy is not killed after being infused into a patient.

The first year of this grant is funded by and named for the Oliver Wells Fund for Neuroblastoma, a St. Baldrick's Hero Fund. From the moment he was born, Ollie was the center of the Wells family with a contagious smile and a sparkle in his eyes. As the youngest child, it was devastating when they learned the 15 year old toddler had cancer. Oliver was diagnosed with high risk neuroblastoma and spent the next 13 months bravely enduring chemotherapy and radiation, more than a dozen surgeries and a bone marrow transplant. But Ollie persevered and smiled through it all. It was an unfair fight from the beginning and in July 2018, Ollie passed away. The Oliver Wells Fund for Neuroblastoma was established in his memory to raise funds to find cures and give hope to other kids facing the same fight. In this way, the Wells family intends to share Oliver’s joy for life and use his story to help find a cure.

Ewing sarcoma (EwS), the 2nd most common childhood bone sarcoma, is an aggressive tumour that primarily affects children, adolescents, and young adults. When EwS tumor cells spread to other parts of the body, known as metastasis, survival is drastically diminished to only 15-20%, which has not changed for decades. Immunotherapy empowers a patient’s own immune system to attack cancer, which has tremendous promise as an alternative to chemotherapies that are often toxic, especially to a growing child. Dr. Sorensen and his team recently identified a protein that is highly expressed on the surface of EwS cells, while showing only minimal to absent expression in normal tissues, nominating IL1RAP as a very promising therapeutic target. With their collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh, they have identified specific antibodies binding to IL1RAP and have engineered these antibodies to be conjugated to a drug that kills EwS cells potently. In this project, they will perform the extensive validation of these compounds to enable the design of early clinical trials for the treatment of EwS. This Better Ewing Sarcoma Therapies (BEST) grant is supported by a unique partnership of funders through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation: D-Feet Cancer, The Faris Foundation, The Shohet Family Fund for Ewing Sarcoma Research, an anonymous donor, and the family and friends of Martha Riedel.

This grant supports a Spanish-speaking Clinical Research Assistant to ensure that more Hispanic children can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

The El Paso region faces unique challenges in terms of delivery of childhood cancer care due to its unique population in underserved border region. This grant supports Clinical Research Associates to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Through this partnership with The Children's Cancer Foundation, proceeds from St. Baldrick's events in Hong Kong fund life-saving research in Hong Kong.

This grant supports pediatric-focused Clinical Research Assistants to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

Florida lacks a larger comprehensive cancer center for children, which makes it more difficult for children fighting cancer to receive cutting edge therapy. This grant supports a Clinical Research Coordinator to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure. At Children's Hospital of Michigan many patients are of minority background, and historically minorities have not always had the same access to health care. Funding from St. Baldrick's Foundation will help the institution continue to have excellent CRA support in the clinical trials office for every patient.

This grant supports a Clinical Research Associate to ensure that more kids can be treated on clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.

This grant supports a specialist to ensure that more kids can be enrolled in clinical trials, often their best hope for a cure.