Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research Announces $3 Million in Grant Awards

Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (Rally) is excited to announce that it has awarded a total of $3 million in grants to 55 researchers and institutions in the United States, Canada and Africa, further strengthening our mission of finding better childhood cancer treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures. This marks the largest funding commitment in our organization’s 14-year history, bringing our overall total to $16.7 million in grants awarded for childhood cancer research.

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. These grants fund all levels of research, from science at the bench to translational, and they include second- and third-year fellows, young investigators, seasoned investigators, and consortiums, which are three or more institutions working together. This approach provides all levels of research a chance to flourish.

This momentous occasion was made possible by Rally’s generous family of supporters who have taken the Rally Fit 46 Challenge, attended a Rally event, collected change through 4 Quarters 4 Research, participated in the McCann 46 Home Run Challenge, asked for donations in lieu of birthdays gifts, or made charitable gifts to Rally through any of our programs. Thanks to each and every one of you!

In an effort to streamline the application process for researchers and foundations, Rally administers a Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program. Foundations that were part of this year’s collaboration included: The Truth 365, Open Hands Overflowing Hearts, Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer, and the Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation. Rally encourages organizations to co-fund research projects together in the spirit of collaboration.

Blood Cancers:

• University of Alabama at Birmingham – Dr. Smita Bhatia for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in adolescents, funded by Rally
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – Dr. Sheng Cai for overcoming pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) resistance in targeted epigenetic therapy, funded by The Truth 365
• University of Michigan – Dr. Mark Chiang for notch pathway activation by Cdc73 in T-ALL funded by Rally
• Indiana University – Dr. Richard Dahl for tumor suppressors in AML, co-funded by The Truth 365 and Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation
• Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute – Dr. Aniruddha Deshpande for inflammatory signaling in pediatric leukemia, co-funded with the Luke Tatsu Johnson Foundation
• University of Pennsylvania – Dr. Christian Hurtz for activated signaling pathways in ALL funded by Rally
• University of Florida – Dr. Jianping Li for therapy resistance in childhood ALL funded by Rally
• Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Dr. Cheng-Kui Qu for synthetic lethality in leukemic stem cells in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) funded by Rally
• Yale University – Dr. Xiaolei Su for molecular mechanism of chimeric antigen receptor signaling in leukemia funded by Rally
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Dr. Sarah Tasian for targeting leukemia cytokine signaling pathways in ALL funded by Rally
• Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Foundation – Dr. Olatundun Williams for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) stem cell persistence funded by Rally

Brain and Central Nervous System Cancers:

• The Hospital for Sick Children – Dr. Namal Abeysundara for the metastatic microenvironment in medulloblastoma funded by Rally
• Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope – Dr. Karen Aboody for enzyme/prodrug and immunotherapy for ependymoma funded by Rally
• Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles – Dr. Anat Erdreich-Epstein for PID1’s growth suppressive domain in medulloblastoma funded by Rally
• University of Alabama at Birmingham – Dr. Gregory Friedman for anti-tumor immune response from HSV immunovirotherapy funded by Rally
• Children’s Research Institute – Dr. Melanie Grant for multi-tumor antigen T cell therapy for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), co-funded with Open Hands Overflowing Hearts
• Northwestern University – Dr. Rintaro Hashizume for the treatment of AT/RT funded by Rally
• Emory University – Dr. Se-Yeong Oh for YAP/TAZ activity in pre-clinical pediatric high-grade gliomas funded by Rally
• National Brain Tumor Society – Dr. Roger Packer for the Defeat Pediatric Brain Tumors Research Collaborative funded by Rally
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Dr. Joelle Straehla for improved drug delivery to high-grade gliomas funded by Rally
• Children’s Research Institute – Dr. Ran Tao for novel therapied for medulloblastoma, co-funded with The Truth 365
• University of Manitoba – Dr. Tamra Werbowetski-Ogilvie for combinatory therapies for SHH medulloblastoma funded by Rally

Solid Tumors:

• UT Southwestern Medical Center – Dr. James Amatruda for prognosis and monitoring in germ cell tumor patients funded by Rally
• University of California, San Francisco – Dr. Benjamin Braun for defeating intrinsic resistance to MEK inhibition in rhabdomyosarcoma funded by Rally
• University of Washington – Dr. Eleanor Chen for RAS-dependent and independent therapeutic targets in rhabdomyosarcoma funded by Rally
• Johns Hopkins University – Dr. Lingling Chen for immunosuppressive niche for treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma, co-funded with Open Hand Overflowing Hearts
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Dr. Brian Crompton for targeting kinase signaling in preclinical models of Ewing sarcoma funded by Rally
• Virginia Commonwealth University – Dr. Anthony Faber for SHP2 inhibition for neuroblastoma, co-funded by Open Hand Overflowing Hearts and Infinite Love
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Dr. Mark Hatley for mechanistic dissection of DICER1 syndrome funded by Rally
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – Dr. Michael Kinnaman for origins and drivers of metastatic expansion in osteosarcoma funded by Rally
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Dr. Malgorzata Krajewska for novel therapeutic strategy in neuroblastoma, co-funded with Infinite Love and Rally
• Johns Hopkins University – Dr. Kathryn Lemberg for glutamine antagonist treatment of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor funded by Rally
• · University of Rochester – Dr. Xingguo Li for therapeutic target in neuroblastoma, co-funded with Infinite Love
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – Dr. Koichi Ogura for modeling, characterizing, and targeting STAG2-mutated Ewing Sarcoma, co-funded with The Truth 365 and Rally
• University of Florida – Dr. Elias Sayour for immunotherapeutic targeting of osteosarcoma funded by Rally
• Emory University – Dr. Robert Schnepp for neuroblastoma, co-funded with Infinite Love and Rally
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Dr. Satyaki Sengupta for epigenetic mechanisms underlying immune evasion in neuroblastoma, co-funded with Infinite Love and Rally
• Rockefeller University – Dr. Sanford Simon for effect of oncogenic kinase on liver cells in fibrolamellar funded by Rally
• Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles – Dr. Katherine Slemmons for the signaling axis in childhood rhabdomyosarcoma funded by Rally
• Children’s Hospital of Boston – Dr. Wei-Tien Tai for CAR T-cell therapy for neuroblastoma, funded by Infinite Love and Rally
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Dr. Ting Tao for high-risk neuroblastoma, funded by Open Hand Overflowing Hearts
• University of Chicago – Dr. Samuel Volchenboum for a data commons for pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma funded by Rally
• Baylor College of Medicine – Dr. Lisa Wang for genome instability in osteosarcoma, co-funded with Open Hand Overflowing Hearts and Rally
• Vanderbilt University – Dr. April Weissmiller for probing MYC recruitment to chromatin in neuroblastoma, co-funded with Open Hands Overflowing Hearts and Rally
• Massachusetts General Hospital – Dr. Alessandra Welker for the role of PlexinA1 in rhabdomyosarcoma, co-funded with Open Hands Overflowing Hearts and Rally
• Baylor College of Medicine – Dr. Jason Yustein for metastatic osteosarcoma and Rally
• Emory University – Dr. Muxiang Zhou for selective small-molecule inhibitor in neuroblastoma, co-funded with Infinite Love and Rally

Palliative Care:

• Emory University – Dr. Katharine Brock for improving palliative care through an integrated oncology model funded by Rally
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Dr. Angela Feraco for medical-psychosocial capacity to enhance quality of life funded by Rally
• University of Ottawa – Dr. Lindsay Jibb for pain management in young children with cancer funded by Rally
• University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital – Dr. Tonia Onyeka for development and validation of childhood cancer educational booklet funded by Rally

Survivorship:

• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center – Dr. Eric Chow for echocardiographic change in childhood cancer survivors funded by Rally
• University of Pennsylvania – Dr. Janet Deatrick for AYA survivors of childhood brain tumors funded by Rally
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago – Dr. Simone Sredni for neuroprotective co-therapy for children with brain tumors funded by Rally
• University of Alabama at Birmingham – Dr. Julie Wolfson for outcome disparities in AYA with ALL funded by Rally

With your continued help and support, Rally will continue to fund the best and brightest research through our Medical Advisory Board’s dual peer-review process to give every child a cancer-free future.