Tiny Particles, Big Hope: How Dr. Wu’s Smart Medicine Could Help Kids with Cancer

Did you know that some medicines are so smart they can go right to the bad stuff and leave the good stuff alone? That’s exactly what Xiaoyang Wu, Ph.D., at the University of Chicago has been working on, and it could help kids with cancer feel better, faster. 

Dr. Wu got early research funding from the Rally Foundation in 2024. That grant helped him and his team test something amazing in the lab: super-tiny particles called nanoparticles that can carry cancer-fighting medicine straight to the tumor, like a delivery truck that knows exactly where to go. 

Why is that awesome? Because it means the medicine hits the cancer hard without hurting the healthy parts of the body. That could mean fewer side effects and a better chance of beating the disease. 

Because of Rally’s early support, Dr. Wu’s team proved their idea worked in the lab. That success led to more funding from other organizations and a new partnership with a company called Alnair Therapeutics. Together, they’re working on turning this idea into a real treatment. They’re even getting ready to ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to start testing it in people! 

None of this would have happened without Rally’s seed funding. It gave a big idea the chance to grow, and now kids with cancer could reap the benefit.  

This is why early-stage research funding matters.

This is the power of philanthropic seed investing.

This is Rally.