Loveland, Ohio – Now in their 20th anniversary year, CancerFree Kids has announced that they will be investing more in research in 2022 than ever before. They are funding 18 of their traditional New Idea Awards and will be funding three first-ever Accelerator Awards. Accelerator Awards are awarded to previous recipients of a CancerFree KIDS New Idea Award that have shown great promise to advance their research more quickly toward improving treatments for kids with cancer.
Take a moment to learn about the incredible research they are funding this year!
2022 Research Grants Awarded to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
New Idea Awards – $550,000
The Paxton’s Golf Outing Research Grant: Linde A Miles; Project Title: Delineation of clonotype-immunophenotype relationships in pediatric myeloid leukemias
The Butterfly Walk Research Grant: Dr. Lai Man Natalie Wu; Project Title: Harnessing novel irradiation strategies to improve immunotherapy for systemic elimination of high-risk neuroblastoma
The altafiber Research Grant: Jennifer Yeung, PhD; Project Title: Characterizing the pathogenesis role of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) in pediatric AML
The Interlink Research Grant: Lee Grimes; Project Title: Functionalizing novel mutations underlying health disparities in AML
The Wirtz Family Research Grant in memory of Jacob: Ashley Cochran, PhD; Project Title: A novel therapeutic strategy for treating death-resistant leukemic cells
The Celebration of Champions Research Grant: Tafadzwa Chihanga; Project Title: Targeting a novel HPV-induced epithelial compartment to prevent viral infection and carcinogenesis.
The CBTS Research Grant: Zaili Luo, Ph.D.; Project Title: Novel chimeric antigen receptor T cell immunotherapy for diffuse midline gliomas
The Sycamore Capital Research Grant: Yuan Lin; Project Title: Aberrant RhoA signaling in pediatric Burkitt’s Lymphoma as a drug target
The Night for the Fight Research Grant in honor of Dre White and Jeff Clarke: Laura Ramsey; Project Title: Using methotrexate pharmacogenomics to remedy racial and ethnic disparities in childhood cancer treatment
The CTI Research Grant: Nawal Merjaneh, MD, MS; Project Title: The Sequential Treatment of RCM-1 and Anti-Apoptotic BCL2 Family Protein Inhibitors in Rhabdomyosarcoma
The Chard Snyder Research Grant: Lynn Lee, MD; Project Title: Target Discovery with Forward CRISPR Genomic Screens in Leukemia Xenografts
Accelerator Awards – $200,000
The Wolf Pack Research Grant in memory of Grant Wolf: Dazhuan Eric Xin, PhD; Project Title: Innovative proton radiotherapy for pediatric malignant medulloblastoma
The ProMach Research Grant: Biplab Dasgupta, in collaboration with Trent Hummel (CCHMC), Natasha Pillai (CCHMC), Pankaj Desai (University of Cincinnati), Timothy Phoenix (University of Cincinnati), Angelo D’Alessandro (University of Denver), Ali Tavassoli (University of Southampton, United Kingdom); Project Title: “Targeting One carbon Metabolism in DIPG”
2022 Research Grants Awarded to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH
New Idea Awards – $350,000
The Clark Schaeffer Hackett Research Grant: Ezgi Elmas; Project Title: Discovering novel pathways to overcome immunosuppression in NK cells Against High-grade Gliomas
Akila Venkataramany; Project Title: Delivering Splice-switching Oligonucleotides Via Adeno-Associated Viruses: Taking the Next Steps Toward Novel Therapies for Ewing Sarcoma
The Tom and Lorri Simpson Research Grant: Kevin Cassady; Project Title: Improving immunotherapy in pediatric neuronal tumors with EV delivery of immune modulators
The Night for the Fight Research Grant in honor of Eliana Boerner: Rachel Dreher; Project Title: LSD1 is a Novel Member of the ChAHP Complex in Ewing Sarcoma
The Reader Author Research Grant in honor of Lori Foster: Chun-Yu Chen; Project Title: Targeting the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment with a novel immunomodulatory HSV to enhance adoptive NK cell therapy
The Mark and MC Anderson Research Grant: Dr. Janet L. Oblinger; Project Title: The role of ARID1A in the malignant progression of NF2-related meningioma
The Al and Lauren Early Research Grant: Pin-Yi Wang; Project Title: Targeting Osteosarcoma with Gene-Based Bispecifics
Accelerator Award – $100,000
The Celebration of Champions Research Grant: Chang, Long-Sheng; Project Title: A novel drug combination targeting RTKs and mTOR to treat malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors
CancerFree KIDS aims to find more effective and gentler treatments for childhood cancer by funding innovative research projects in the early stages of development. New ideas need money to grow, yet potential breakthrough treatment methods often go unfunded because pediatric cancer research is drastically limited. CancerFree KIDS provides grants to high-risk/high-reward childhood cancer research projects in these crucial early stages, which allows researchers to prove their concept, secure additional funding, and eventually create new treatments for kids.
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