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Rally Researchers

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 Foundation Announces Young Investigator Recipients of its Largest-Ever Grant Awards

Rally Foundation Announces Young Investigator Recipients of its Largest-Ever Grant Awards

by | Jun 25, 2020

We are living in unprecedented times. As the world grapples with a number of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing seems normal or constant—but that really isn’t true. Childhood cancer remains a constant. At Rally, every day we are hearing about new diagnoses, relapses and even kids dying from cancer. You know what else remains constant? The commitment of the Rally Foundation Board of Directors, Advisors, supporters, and staff to fund the best cutting-edge childhood cancer research—even in these unprecedented times. Last year, Rally made a commitment to fund two $300K Career Development Grants to Young Investigators, in an effort to propel and advance their research to a point where they would receive federal funding. A Young Investigator is sometimes called junior faculty. These amazing individuals are between one and seven years post their pediatric oncologist fellowship...

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How Rally’s Grant Helped Rally Researcher Dr. Michael Kinnaman: Part 2

How Rally’s Grant Helped Rally Researcher Dr. Michael Kinnaman: Part 2

by | Apr 24, 2020

Rally Researcher, Medical Advisory Board member and pediatric oncologist Dr. Michael Kinnaman is the recipient of Rally’s Postdoctoral and Clinical Research Fellow Grant and most recently was awarded a 2020 Young Investigator Grant. In part two of this two-part series, Dr. Kinnaman reveals how our grant has helped fund his research project on characterizing osteosarcoma tumor cells that are resistant to our current therapy with the end goal of discovering new treatment strategies that are specifically targeted towards these resistant tumor cells. Read part one here.   Dr. Kinnaman Seeks to Understand the Complexities of Osteosarcoma One of the first patients I saw as a fellow at MSK Kids, Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Pediatric program, was a 12-year-old boy with newly diagnosed osteosarcoma of his right thigh bone. Osteosarcoma is the most common malignant bone tumor in children and...

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Rally Researchers

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
Rally Foundation Announces Young Investigator Recipients of its Largest-Ever Grant Awards

Rally Foundation Announces Young Investigator Recipients of its Largest-Ever Grant Awards

by | Jun 25, 2020

We are living in unprecedented times. As the world grapples with a number of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing seems normal or constant—but that really isn’t true. Childhood cancer remains a constant. At Rally, every day we are hearing about new diagnoses, relapses and even kids dying from cancer. You know what else remains constant? The commitment of the Rally Foundation Board of Directors, Advisors, supporters, and staff to fund the best cutting-edge childhood cancer...

read more
How Rally’s Grant Helped Rally Researcher Dr. Michael Kinnaman: Part 2

How Rally’s Grant Helped Rally Researcher Dr. Michael Kinnaman: Part 2

by | Apr 24, 2020

Rally Researcher, Medical Advisory Board member and pediatric oncologist Dr. Michael Kinnaman is the recipient of Rally’s Postdoctoral and Clinical Research Fellow Grant and most recently was awarded a 2020 Young Investigator Grant. In part two of this two-part series, Dr. Kinnaman reveals how our grant has helped fund his research project on characterizing osteosarcoma tumor cells that are resistant to our current therapy with the end goal of discovering new treatment strategies that are...

read more

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