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Rally Researchers

New and Innovative Study Technique for Osteosarcoma Metastasis

New and Innovative Study Technique for Osteosarcoma Metastasis

by | Oct 21, 2021

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a type of cancer that begins in the cells that form bones, and mainly affects teenagers and young adults. In metastatic osteosarcoma, the cancer spreads from the primary bone site to another location, most often the lungs. It can also spread to other bones, the brain or other organs. Currently there are no curative treatments for metastatic osteosarcoma. We urgently need to develop new therapies. To better understand a disease, it is common for tumor research studies to use orthotopic implantation. This method grafts tumor tissue where the disease begins in a mouse model. For osteosarcoma studies that would be in a bone allowing researchers to examine cancer progression more accurately and identify potential drug combinations more reliably. Rally-funded researcher Lindsay Jones Talbot, MD, is a pediatric surgeon, researcher, and instructor at St. Jude Children’s...

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INSTRuCT Database for Rhabdomyosarcoma Impact

INSTRuCT Database for Rhabdomyosarcoma Impact

by | Oct 21, 2021

Rally is proud to be the initial funder for the creation of the INSTRuCT Database with a Consortium Grant to Dr. Sam Volchenboum of the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) at the University of Chicago. Recent advances in genomic medicine look promising in the study of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). RMS is a rare soft tissue malignancy primarily diagnosed before adolescence.   RMS studies are historically challenged, given that only approximately 350 patients are diagnosed with RMS each year in the United States and around 700 patients a year in Western Europe. It is challenging to conduct clinical trials of anticancer drugs for the treatment of RMS due to the rarity, its various subtypes and differences in gene mutations. As a solution, the International Soft-Tissue Sarcoma Database Consortium (INSTRuCT) was created through collaboration with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Soft-Tissue...

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New RNA Therapies for Glioblastoma from Small Phase 1 Study

New RNA Therapies for Glioblastoma from Small Phase 1 Study

by | Aug 27, 2021

Glioblastoma (GBM) in children and adults is a deadly brain tumor with a poor prognosis. Current treatment includes surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, most patients still experience tumor growth despite the treatment and have a median survival of less than two years.  Immunotherapy has shown success in the treatment of other types of tumors, but that success has been elusive with malignant brain tumors, such as GBM. However, new ribonucleic acid (RNA) based immunotherapy is showing promise in treatment for GBM. Rally-funded researcher Elias Sayour, MD, PhD, and his team at the University of Florida recently published exciting discoveries focusing on the utilization of RNA dendritic cell (DC) vaccines and RNA nanoparticle therapies in the treatment of GBM. RNA-based therapies offer clear advantages over other...

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What is Big Data and Childhood Cancer Research

What is Big Data and Childhood Cancer Research

by | Aug 25, 2021

After being born and living in Turkey my whole life, I came to the US for college to study biological sciences at the University of Chicago. When the laboratory research internship I found for the summer of my first year was cancelled due to COVID-19, I joined a resume match program of my school’s Career Advancement Office, which matched students with employers based on experience and preferences. It was initially through this program that I matched with the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) and started working as their undergraduate summer intern. Later, this internship extended into a part-time job, and I worked with them for nearly a year. Previously in high school, I had worked with a non-profit organization called Cancer Warriors (Kanser Savaşçıları) for more than a year. Through this organization, I had visited the pediatric hematology and oncology departments of an...

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The Spark Has Ignited A Fire: How Rally’s Seed Funding Paved the Way for Dr. Volchenboum and the PCDC

The Spark Has Ignited A Fire: How Rally’s Seed Funding Paved the Way for Dr. Volchenboum and the PCDC

by | Jul 25, 2021

At Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research, we often describe ourselves as “philanthropic seed investors in the next great discovery.” That’s because Rally invests early and continues to invest as projects make progress. It’s also because we like to take a few risks when it comes to funding the more “unconventional” research projects. After all, it only takes one spark to light a fire, and that spark—that next great discovery—could pave the way to finding a cure. Dr. Sam Volchenboum’s Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) was one of those “unconventional” projects that sparked a glorious fire—all because of Rally Kid Ruby, her father Dr. Jonathan Kaufman, and our shared desire to fund groundbreaking research for childhood cancer. How It Started It all started back in 2015, when Rally Kid Ruby was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of soft tissue cancer. Being the...

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The New England Journal of Medicine

The New England Journal of Medicine

by | Apr 26, 2021

Chills ran up and down my arms when I opened the link that Rally-funded researcher Dr. Gregory Friedman sent. I was staring at the New England Journal of Medicine logo, an article about Dr. Friedman’s brain cancer research and an acknowledgement to Rally for our support. “As a young investigator in 2013, I received my first grant directly supporting my lab research from Rally. The support enabled us to obtain the critical preclinical data needed for FDA approval to conduct the first pediatric trial of the therapy in recurrent high-grade gliomas,” shared Dr. Friedman. This week Dr. Friedman’s research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious—if not the most prestigious—medical journals in the world. I often say at Rally we like to fund early, aren’t afraid of outside the box ideas and as long as the research is making progress, we will stick with...

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Rally Researchers

New and Innovative Study Technique for Osteosarcoma Metastasis

New and Innovative Study Technique for Osteosarcoma Metastasis

by | Oct 21, 2021

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a type of cancer that begins in the cells that form bones, and mainly affects teenagers and young adults. In metastatic osteosarcoma, the cancer spreads from the primary bone site to another location, most often the lungs. It can also spread to other bones, the brain or other organs. Currently there are no curative treatments for metastatic osteosarcoma. We urgently need to develop new therapies. To better understand a disease, it is common for tumor research studies to...

read more
INSTRuCT Database for Rhabdomyosarcoma Impact

INSTRuCT Database for Rhabdomyosarcoma Impact

by | Oct 21, 2021

Rally is proud to be the initial funder for the creation of the INSTRuCT Database with a Consortium Grant to Dr. Sam Volchenboum of the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) at the University of Chicago. Recent advances in genomic medicine look promising in the study of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). RMS is a rare soft tissue malignancy primarily diagnosed before adolescence.   RMS studies are historically challenged, given that only approximately 350 patients are diagnosed with RMS each year in the...

read more
New RNA Therapies for Glioblastoma from Small Phase 1 Study

New RNA Therapies for Glioblastoma from Small Phase 1 Study

by | Aug 27, 2021

Glioblastoma (GBM) in children and adults is a deadly brain tumor with a poor prognosis. Current treatment includes surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, most patients still experience tumor growth despite the treatment and have a median survival of less than two years.  Immunotherapy has shown success in the treatment of other types of tumors, but that success has been elusive with malignant brain tumors, such as GBM....

read more
What is Big Data and Childhood Cancer Research

What is Big Data and Childhood Cancer Research

by | Aug 25, 2021

After being born and living in Turkey my whole life, I came to the US for college to study biological sciences at the University of Chicago. When the laboratory research internship I found for the summer of my first year was cancelled due to COVID-19, I joined a resume match program of my school’s Career Advancement Office, which matched students with employers based on experience and preferences. It was initially through this program that I matched with the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons...

read more
The Spark Has Ignited A Fire: How Rally’s Seed Funding Paved the Way for Dr. Volchenboum and the PCDC

The Spark Has Ignited A Fire: How Rally’s Seed Funding Paved the Way for Dr. Volchenboum and the PCDC

by | Jul 25, 2021

At Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research, we often describe ourselves as “philanthropic seed investors in the next great discovery.” That’s because Rally invests early and continues to invest as projects make progress. It’s also because we like to take a few risks when it comes to funding the more “unconventional” research projects. After all, it only takes one spark to light a fire, and that spark—that next great discovery—could pave the way to finding a cure. Dr. Sam Volchenboum’s...

read more
The New England Journal of Medicine

The New England Journal of Medicine

by | Apr 26, 2021

Chills ran up and down my arms when I opened the link that Rally-funded researcher Dr. Gregory Friedman sent. I was staring at the New England Journal of Medicine logo, an article about Dr. Friedman’s brain cancer research and an acknowledgement to Rally for our support. “As a young investigator in 2013, I received my first grant directly supporting my lab research from Rally. The support enabled us to obtain the critical preclinical data needed for FDA approval to conduct the first pediatric...

read more

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