From Rare Disease to Remarkable Discovery: How Rally Helped Launch a New Path for Pediatric Cancer Research

When traditional funding sources weren’t ready to support this high-risk idea, Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research stepped in. 

With Rally Foundation’s early funding, Dr. Mark Hatley and his team at St. Jude uncovered a surprising discovery in children with DICER1 cancer predisposition syndrome: A type of white blood cell called a neutrophil may actually help tumors form by releasing harmful web-like structures called neutrophil extracellular traps. 

The team also identified existing drugs that may be able to stop these harmful traps and potentially reduce tumor formation in children at high risk for cancer. 

The findings were published in Developmental Cell and are now helping drive a new National Cancer Institute grant proposal forward. 

This is exactly why Rally funds bold science early, before the data is proven and before federal grants are possible. 

This is why early-stage research funding matters.
This is the power of philanthropic seed investing.
This is Rally.