$2 Million in Grants!

Apr 1, 2021 | Grant Awards, Rally Blog, Research | 1 comment

Can you believe it? Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research just awarded $2 million in childhood cancer research grants. If you had asked us one year ago today, this is not what we would have predicted. It is because of you that we were able to do this. Thank you!

Thank you to our supporters and Rally Challenge Teams who made each of these grants possible by adjusting the way funds were raised. Thank you to our Rally Medical Advisory Board who offered guidance when so much was unknown. Thank you to our partners in the Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program: The Truth 365, Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer, Open Hands Overflowing Hearts, Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, National Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Osteosarcoma Institute; like-minded foundations working together to co-fund projects to ensure we each are able to fund the best childhood cancer research.

What does $2 million in research grants look like? It is 40 total awards. It is two career development awards, four consortiums, five young investigators, 28 independent investigators and one fellow. It is research happening in the United States, Canada and Italy.

Together we are all making a difference and giving hope to families battling childhood cancer.

Blood Cancers

Funded by Rally Foundation:

  • The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Bagashev for novel therapeutic targets in TCF3-HLF childhood ALL
  • Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope: Dr. He for targeting PRMT9 in pediatric FLT3-ITD positive AML
  • The University of California, San Francisco: Dr. Huang for duplex sequencing for minimal residual disease detection in AML
  • The University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Hurtz for DYRK1A is required for the survival of pediatric KMT2A-rearranged ALL
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Rau for overcoming cell-intrinsic chemoresistance in IKZF1-deleted B-ALL
  • Yale University: Dr. Su for engineering high efficiency CAR Ts for B cell cancer

Co-Funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner:

  • Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute: Dr. Deshpande for targeting inflammatory signaling in pediatric leukemia, co-funded by Rally Foundation and the Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Stegmaier for advancing new therapeutic strategies for pediatric acute leukemias, co-funded by Rally Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
  • The University of Alabama at Birmingham: Dr. Wolfson for understanding outcome disparities in AYA with ALL, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Open Hands Overflowing Hearts

Co-Funded by Collaborative Partners:

  • The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Felix for preclinical development of EIF4E inhibitor Ribavirin for pediatric AML, co-funded by The Truth 365 and Open Hands Overflowing Hearts

Brain and Central Nervous System Cancers

Funded by Rally Foundation:

  • The University of Alabama at Birmingham: Dr. Friedman for maximizing the anti-tumor immune response from HSV immunovirotherapy
  • The Medical University of Georgia: Dr. Johnson for Phase I trial of indoximod in combination with temozolomide-based therapy for children with progressive primary brain tumors
  • The University of Padova: Dr. Persano for modeling medulloblastoma resistance as a new tool for drug identification
  • The Medical University of South Carolina: Dr. Rodriguez-Blanco for identifying novel therapeutics for high risk medulloblastoma patients
  • The University of Manitoba: Dr. Werbowetski-Ogilvie for novel combination therapies for SHH medulloblastoma

Co-Funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner:

  • Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago: Dr. Hashizume for targeted inhibition of EZH2 and BET BRD4 for the treatment of AT/RT, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
  • The University of Florida: Dr. Sayour for RNA nanoparticle vaccines for pediatric high-grade glioma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and CureSearch for Children’s Cancer

Solid Tumors

Funded by Rally Foundation:

  • Emory University: Dr. Hong for developing faithful in vitro models of Wilms tumor to identify new targets
  • Duke University Medical Center: Dr. Linardic for targeting CDK8 in fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma
  • The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Matkar for the study of molecular mechanisms of lorlatinib resistance in neuroblastoma
  • Oncoheroes Biosciences for the clinical development of volasertib (Oncoheroes’ Lead compound), a cell cycle inhibitor (polo-like Kinase 1) whose application is being investigated for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma
  • University of Miami: Dr. Sanghvi for understanding and blocking NRF2 oncoprotein in hepatoblastoma
  • The Rockefeller University: Dr. Simon for the effect of oncogenic kinase on liver cells in fibrolamellar
  • Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Dr. Talbot for efficacy of chemokine-mediated CAR T cell homing in immunocompetent systems, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Viswanathan for targeting TFE3 fusions in Xp11.2 translocation renal cell carcinoma
  • Middle Tennessee State University: Dr. Weissmiller for understanding and inhibiting MYC function in rhabdoid tumors
  • UT Southwestern Medical Center: Dr. Xu for developing new therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for rhabdomyosarcoma
  • Emory University: Dr. Zhou for discovery of novel MYCN inhibitors for therapy of pediatric neuroblastoma

Co-funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner:

  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Crompton for targeting kinase signaling in preclinical models of Ewing sarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
  • St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Dr. Durbin for preclinical chemical interrogation of EP300 in high-risk osteosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer
  • Massachusetts General Hospital: Dr. Langenau for reversing multi-drug resistance in rhabdomyosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
  • M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: Dr. Livingston for a Phase II study of Durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) and Oleclumab (anti-CD-73) in adolescents and young adults with recurrent osteosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and the Osteosarcoma Institute
  • Moffit Cancer Center: Dr. Reed for blood based bio-markers for minimal residual disease detection in pediatric sarcomas, co-funded by Rally Foundation and the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation
  • The University of Florida: Dr. Sayour for immunotherapeutic targeting of osteosarcoma with nanoparticle vaccines, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
  • The University of Chicago: Dr. Volchenboum for building the osteosarcoma data commons, co-funded by Rally Foundation, The Truth 365 and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Yustein for dissecting and targeting the WNT pathway in metastatic osteosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer

Palliative Care

Funded by Rally Foundation:

  • Emory University: Dr. Brock for development and pilot of a telehealth hospice transition intervention

Survivorship

Funded by Rally Foundation:

  • The University of Alabama at Birmingham: Dr. Bhatia for enhancing 6MP adherence in adolescents with ALL: strategy for dissemination
  • The University of Cincinnati: Dr. Reyes for scRNAseq to identify mechanisms of cognitive deficits in ALL survivors

1 Comment

  1. Lisa Monaghan

    How do we get a donation for Seattle’s children Hospital for cancer research of Rhabdoid tumor in memory of Jamie Monaghan. Not much research on that and we set up a account for this and still not much funding available.
    Rate tumor

    Reply

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