Rally Awards Most Grants Ever

Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research Awards $4 Million in 2023

In 2023, Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (“Rally”) will award a total of $4 million to 57 researchers across 30 institutions worldwide – the largest number of childhood cancer research grants ever to be distributed since Rally was founded in 2005.

“This brings the total amount of research funds that Rally has awarded to $29.4 million – and it is the highest amount we have been able to award in one year,” says Dean Crowe, Founder and CEO. “In 2022, we were delighted by the significant increase in funds raised thanks to our grassroot supporters, special events and incredibly generous corporate donors. Our mission speaks to all: to fund the best research wherever it may be to help find better childhood cancer treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures.”

Rally grants are awarded based on a competitive dual peer-review process conducted by Rally’s Medical Advisory Board, which is made up of leading childhood cancer experts. The grants fund all levels of research, from science at the bench to translational, and they include fellows, young investigators and independent investigators.

This year Rally will also award its Career Development Award for the second time, a three-year $300,000 grant that supports a promising researcher in recognition of his or her work. The first two recipients of this grant were Dr. Jezabel Rodriguez-Blanco of MUSC and Dr. Benjamin Huang of UCSF.

Rally encourages other childhood cancer organizations to collaborate and co-fund research projects together, and successfully administers Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program. To streamline the application process for researchers and foundations, returning organizations that were part of this year’s Collaboration include The Truth 365, Kids Join the Fight, Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer, Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation and CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, while the Mighty Millie Foundation and The Power of Will joined for the first time. Rally is also working with Kids Join the Fight and new partner, CureMEC, for Outside the Box Grants that will be announced in the late summer of 2023.

“We are so grateful to all who have taken the #RallyFit47 Challenge, attended a Rally signature event like Rally On the Runway or the annual Rally Benefit Bash, collected change through 4 Quarters 4 Research, asked for donations in lieu of birthday gifts, or made charitable gifts to Rally through any of our programs,” said Crowe. “Every dollar matters. It could just be that dollar that finds the cure!”

Again this year, Rally received a perfect score of 100 from Charity Navigator for financial health and transparency, further encouraging Rally’s generous family of supporters who are thrilled that 93 cents of each donated dollar goes to support the mission.

Rally is proud to be funding the best and the brightest researchers. This year’s awards include 57 grants given to 14 Consortiums, 16 Independent Investigators, 16 Young Investigators, 6 Fellows and 5 Career Development Awards.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

Funded by Rally Foundation

• Columbia University: Dr. Robyn Gartrell for Effect of Radiation and CD47 on Microglia in Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG)
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Riaz Gillani for a Mechanistic & Computational Interrogation of DNA Damage in Ewing Sarcoma
• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Jennifer Kalish for Pediatric Liver Cancer Formation in Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome
• Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Jeremy Schraw for Integrating Epidemiology and Genomics to Characterize Rare Childhood Tumors

Co-Funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Dr. Michael Ortiz for Clinical Translation of an XPO1 Dependency in Select Pediatric Solid Tumors, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer

BRAIN AND CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM CANCER GRANTS

Funded by Rally Foundation

• Washington University: Dr. Mohamed Abdelbaki for Natural Killer Cells in Children with Recurrent Malignant Brain Tumors
• Children’s Research Institute: Dr. Hayk Barseghyan for Deciphering the Structural Complexities of Pediatric Low-Grade Gliomas
• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Adam Resnick for Children’s Brain Tumor Network: Accelerating Discovery & Clinical Trials

Co-Funded by Rally Foundation and a Collaborative Partner

• Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Jamie Anastas for Targeting the SAGA Chromatin Regulatory Complex in DMG, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight
• University of Alabama at Birmingham: Dr. Rintaro Hashizume for Targeted Inhibition of EZH2 and BET BRD4 for the Treatment of AT/RT, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight
• The Hospital for Sick Children: Dr. Cynthia Hawkins for Integrated Characterization of Disseminated Pediatric Low-Grade Glioma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight
• SonALAsense, Inc.: Dr. Stuart Marcus for A Phase 1/2 Study of Sonodynamic Therapy Using SONALA-001 and Exablate 4000, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight
• Augusta University Research Institute: Dr. David Munn for Novel Combination Immunotherapy for Pediatric Brain Tumors, co-funded by Rally Foundation and CureSearch for Children’s Cancer
• The Hospital for Sick Children: Dr. Vijay Ramaswamy for New Therapies for Very High-Risk TP53 Mutant Medulloblastoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight
• National Brain Tumor Society: Dr. Kirk Tanner for The DNA Damage Response (DDR) Consortium, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Jessica Tsai for Dissecting FOXR2-mediated Oncogenesis in Diffuse Midline Gliomas, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Kids Join the Fight

Co-Funded by Collaborative Partners

• University of Michigan: Dr. John Prensner for Oncogenic uORFs as the Next Frontier for Medulloblastoma Target Genes, co-funded by The Truth 365 and Kids Join the Fight

BLOOD CANCER GRANTS

Funded By Rally Foundation

• Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Dr. Austin Boucher for Investigating the Mechanisms Driving the Myeloid Leukemia of Down Syndrome
• University of Michigan: Dr. Mark Chiang for Notch-independent Transcriptional Circuits in ETP-ALL
• Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences: Dr. Daniel Herranz for the Role of Glutamine Synthetase as a Therapeutic Target in Pediatric T-ALL
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Brigit Knoechel for Interrogating T-cell Subsets and their Role for Treatment Response in T-ALL
• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Susan McClory for Molecular Drivers of Long-term CAR T Cell Response in Patients with B-ALL
• Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Rachel Rau for HTS of the Ig loci for Refined Risk Stratification in Pediatric B-ALL
• Yale University: Dr. Xiaolei Su for Engineering High Efficiency CAR Ts for B Cell Cancer

Co-Funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner

• Leland Stanford Junior University: Dr. Mohammad Balood for Evaluation of Neoantigen-specific T Cells in Human Murine Model of AMKL, co-funded by Rally Foundation and the Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation
• Boston Children’s Hospital: Dr. Alan Cantor for RNA-based Sensor Treatment of Fusion Molecule Driven Pediatric Malignancies, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Jana Ellegast for Exploiting Inflammatory Signaling in Childhood Leukemia, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
• Johns Hopkins University: Dr. Linda Resar for Targeting HMGA1 Enhancers in MLL-r Pediatric Leukemia, co-funded by Rally Foundation and the Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation

SOLID TUMOR GRANTS

Funded by Rally Foundation

• Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Atreyi Dasgupta for Tumor Derived Extracellular Vesicle in Preparation of Lung Metastatic Niche
• Children’s Research Institute: Dr. Adriana Fonseca for Clinical and Molecular Characterization of DICER1-mutant CNS Sarcomas
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Lindsay Frazier for New Therapeutic Insights into Germ Cell Tumors by Exploring Age Differences
• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Anna Maria Giudice for Investigating the Intersection of CAR T Cells and EVs in Neuroblastoma
• Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: Dr. Miller Huang for Evaluating the Role of Chromosome 17q Gain in Neuroblastoma
• Johns Hopkins University: Dr. Christine Pratilas for Deconvoluting Mechanisms of Resistance to SHP2 Inhibition in NF1-MPNST
• Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation: Dr. Edward Prochownik for A Common Set of Genes that Mediate Transformation in Pediatric Liver Cancer
• Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Dr. Noha Shendy for Interrogating the Neuroblastoma Chemoresistant Cellular State
• The Rockefeller University: Dr. Sanford Simon for Genome Wide Association Studies in Fibrolamellar Carcinoma
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Srinivas Viswanathan for Targeting the Oxidative Stress Response in TFE3 Fusion Cancers
• The University of Chicago: Dr. Samuel Volchenboum for Rally HIBiSCus Grant 2022
• The Hospital for Sick Children: Dr. Rosanna Weksberg for Early Wilms Tumor Diagnosis by Cell-free DNA in Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome

Co-Funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner

• The Research Institute of Nationwide Children’s Hospital: Dr. Long-Sheng Chang for Anti-tumor Synergism of Combined eIF4A and XPO1 Inhibition in Osteosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Power of Will
• Emory University: Dr. Kelsey Jonus for Optimizing Allogeneic Gamma Delta T Cellular Therapy for Neuroblastoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and The Truth 365
• Johns Hopkins University: Dr. Patience Odeniyide for Identifying Drivers of Treatment Resistance in HRAS-mutant Rhabdomyosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer
• Johns Hopkins University: Dr. Christine Pratilas for Molecularly Targeted Therapies for Fusion-negative Rhabdomyosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Mighty Millie Foundation
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Dr. Nina Weichert-Leahey for Epigenetic Reprograming of Neuroblastoma Enhances Differentiation, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer
• The University of Texas Southwestern: Dr. Yanbin Zheng for Ectopic PLAG1 Plus Loss of p53 Drives Rhabdomyosarcoma, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer

MIXED BRAIN/CNS, SOLID TUMOR AND BLOOD CANCER GRANTS

Funded by Rally Foundation

• University Children’s Hospital Wurzburg: Dr. Ignazio Caruana for Restoration of the Autophagy Machinery in Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells

Co-Funded by Rally and a Collaborative Partner

• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Dr. Erin Runbeck for Targeting PRAME with Peptide-centric CAR T Cells in Pediatric Malignancies, co-funded by Rally Foundation and Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer

SURVIVORSHIP/QUALITY OF LIFE GRANTS

Funded by Rally Foundation

• University of Alabama at Birmingham: Dr. Smita Bhatia for Enhancing 6MP Adherence in Adolescents with ALL: Strategy for Dissemination
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: Dr. Neel Bhatt for Feasibility and Acceptability of a Return to School Intervention
• University Center Hospital Sainte-Justine: Dr. Hallie Coltin for Risk of Adverse Mental Health Sequelae in Fathers of Children with Cancer
• Seattle Children’s Hospital: Dr. Rebecca Gardner for Prospective Evaluation of Delayed Effects of Pediatric CAR T Cell Therapy
• Emory University: Dr. Xu Ji for Assess Neighborhood Deprivation and Racial Segregation for Childhood Cancer
• Seattle Children’s Hospital: Dr. Brittany Lee for Communication with Caregivers about Tumor Genomic Sequencing
• Baylor College of Medicine: Dr. Casey McAtee for Eliminating Abandonment of Pediatric Cancer Therapy in Malawi
• Seattle Children’s Hospital: Dr. Timothy Ohlsen for Financial Toxicity and Development of a Caregiver-reported Outcome Measure