Research Updates Archives - Children's Cancer Research Fund https://childrenscancer.org/category/research-updates/ Children's Cancer Research Fund invests in lifesaving, leading-edge research in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of childhood cancers and blood-related disorders. Thu, 01 May 2025 18:07:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Breaking Barriers: The Latest in Brain Cancer Research  https://childrenscancer.org/breaking-barriers-the-latest-in-brain-cancer-research/ Thu, 01 May 2025 17:03:17 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=15345 Every time you give to Children’s Cancer Research Fund, children with cancer get one step closer to a cure – and to safer treatments, without lasting side effects.

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]]> The power of seed funding: CCRF-funded leukemia screening project lands NIH grant https://childrenscancer.org/the-power-of-seed-funding-ccrf-funded-leukemia-screening-project-lands-nih-grant/ Fri, 27 Oct 2023 15:26:24 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=13794 Erin Marcotte, PhD, MPH, and Heather Nelson, PhD, MPH, of University of Minnesota are seizing the opportunity to turn small things into big hope for the future of childhood leukemia. In 2016, the pair received a grant from Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF) to develop a new method to predict which children are at risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) — and perhaps one day prevent it.

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]]> Divide and conquer – a new way to study osteosarcoma https://childrenscancer.org/divide-and-conquer-a-new-way-to-study-osteosarcoma/ Mon, 25 Sep 2023 16:52:02 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=13560 Using The Fight Osteosarcoma Together (FOT) Super Grant, funded in part by the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund, Dr. Grohar will spend three years leading a research team to investigate a family of genes called MYC. His larger goal is to identify targeted treatments for osteosarcoma patients whose MYC genes have gone awry.

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]]> Six funding partners unite to defeat this formidable childhood cancer https://childrenscancer.org/six-funding-partners-unite-to-defeat-this-formidable-childhood-cancer/ Thu, 24 Aug 2023 18:23:00 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=13316 If we want to defeat osteosarcoma, a formidable bone cancer, we must put a powerful force behind research. That’s why CCRF’s Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund is proud to unite with five funding partners to back The Fight Osteosarcoma Together (FOT) Super Grant, a new three-year, $1.5 million dollar grant to fight recurring osteosarcoma.

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]]> Developing a new way to stop the most aggressive leukemia https://childrenscancer.org/developing-a-new-way-to-stop-the-most-aggressive-leukemia/ Thu, 24 Aug 2023 17:51:16 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=13307 With support from an Accelerating Impact for Hard-to-Treat Cancer Award from Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF), University of Virginia researcher John Bushweller is pursuing an innovative new way to treat this devastating disease. Bushweller has found that blocking the MLL protein from binding to DNA stops leukemia cell growth completely — like corking a bottle so that nothing can spill out. Now he and his team at UVA Cancer Center are developing drugs to disrupt the DNA binding process.

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]]> How one boy’s cells could power new treatments for ETMR https://childrenscancer.org/how-one-boys-cells-could-power-new-treatments-for-etmr/ Fri, 14 Jul 2023 20:16:22 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=13062 As young Jonah fought embryonal tumor with multilayered rosettes (ETMR), a very rare and aggressive pediatric brain tumor, he returned to the operating room at Weill Cornell Medicine Brain & Spine Center again and again. But the tenacious tumor kept coming back — and pediatric neurosurgeon Jeffrey Greenfield, MD, PhD, recognized the opportunity that presented on the laboratory bench.

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]]> DNA test could predict future brain tumor relapses in kids https://childrenscancer.org/dna-test-could-predict-future-brain-tumor-relapses-in-kids/ Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:32:44 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12397 Drs. Erin Crotty and Margot Lazow were motivated by their young, resilient patients to spend their careers studying some of the most difficult-to-treat and deadly cancers: brain tumors.

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]]> Could knowing genetic ancestry improve rhabdomyosarcoma outcomes? https://childrenscancer.org/could-knowing-genetic-ancestry-improve-rhabdomyosarcoma-outcomes/ Wed, 25 Jan 2023 20:31:00 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12320 Unlike some other childhood cancers, the outlook for RMS patients has not improved in recent years: five-year survival rates are less than 70% and fall to 30% for kids whose cancer has metastasized. African American children with RMS face a 16% worse survival rate than their non-Hispanic white peers.

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]]> Race Against Rare Leukemia – CCRF donors helped create a treatment where one had never existed before https://childrenscancer.org/race-against-rare-leukemia-ccrf-donors-helped-create-a-treatment-where-one-had-never-existed-before/ Thu, 12 Jan 2023 17:03:36 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12292 CCRF donors raced against rare leukemia, and now they're bringing treatments to the finish line and honoring the bravery of two little girls.

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]]> Emily Stene, RN, BSN – Guiding Cancer Survivors Through the Medical System https://childrenscancer.org/emily-stene-rn-bsn-guiding-cancer-survivors-through-the-medical-system/ Mon, 02 Jan 2023 15:37:28 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12258 Anyone who has had to navigate the medical system knows it isn’t exactly a breeze. But it’s especially difficult for childhood cancer survivors, who often have complex medical histories that span years, include dozens of medications and procedures and often come with long-term side effects.   Emily Stene, RN, BSN, knows this all too well – she was driven to become an oncology nurse after surviving ...

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]]> Freezing cancer to death: A promising new therapy for rhabdomyosarcoma https://childrenscancer.org/freezing-cancer-to-death-a-promising-new-therapy-approach-for-rhabdomyosarcoma/ Wed, 21 Dec 2022 18:47:51 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12232 When you think of childhood cancer treatments, turning a tumor into an ice ball and melting it is probably not the first therapy that comes to mind. But Alex Huang, MD, PhD at Case Western Reserve University thinks the method could boost immunotherapy effectiveness for kids with rhabdomyosarcoma.

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]]> Could data help us prevent some childhood cancers? https://childrenscancer.org/could-data-help-us-prevent-some-childhood-cancers/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 19:53:20 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12208 Thanks to donations from supporters like you, the Childhood Cancer & Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC; www.clic.ngo) is ushering in a new era of childhood cancer research. 

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]]> Improving access to cutting-edge cancer care https://childrenscancer.org/improving-access-to-cutting-edge-cancer-care/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 17:20:57 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12199 Growing up as the child of immigrants, Jenny Ruiz, MD, regularly went to the doctor’s office with her grandfather, a kidney transplant patient who spoke limited English. “Because of our socioeconomic and cultural background, he depended on his grandchildren to take him to his appointments and who often ended up interpreting for him,” she recalled. “So that was my introduction to medicine when I was 16 or 17. I saw a lot of things that needed to be improved, and I felt that I could take a role in making those improvements for future patients.”

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]]> Developing better therapies for hard-to-treat rhabdomyosarcoma https://childrenscancer.org/developing-better-therapies-for-hard-to-treat-rhabdomyosarcoma/ Wed, 30 Nov 2022 21:43:41 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12160 Amit Sabnis, MD, still remembers one of the first patients he cared for as an oncology fellow. The young man survived rhabdomyosarcoma, a childhood muscle cancer. But that cure required high doses of radiation that later caused another sarcoma — one that eventually took the young man’s life.

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]]> A powerful new drug could be osteosarcoma’s match https://childrenscancer.org/a-powerful-new-drug-could-be-osteosarcomas-match/ Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:57:37 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=12121 Alex Huang, MD, PhD has searched unceasingly for readily available drug options that could cure osteosarcoma in its deadliest form, so kids won’t continue losing their lives to ineffective drugs -- the same ones that failed his cousin decades ago.

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]]> Ewing sarcoma research that began with CCRF funding is selected for multimillion dollar grant https://childrenscancer.org/ewing-sarcoma-research-that-began-with-ccrf-funding-is-selected-for-multimillion-dollar-grant/ Thu, 06 Oct 2022 18:09:17 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=11872 Ewing sarcoma researcher Beau Webber, PhD, and epidemiologist Logan Spector, PhD were selected for a multimillion-dollar National Institutes of Health RO1 grant.

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]]> Using nanoparticles to fight hard-to-treat brain tumors https://childrenscancer.org/using-nanoparticles-to-fight-hard-to-treat-brain-tumors/ Wed, 05 Oct 2022 16:07:37 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=11847 Pediatric neurosurgeon Peter Chiarelli, MD, PhD, who leads the Nanoscaled Neuro-technology Research Group at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is determined to find innovative ways to defeat diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare and currently incurable brain cancer.

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]]> A vaccine for hard-to-treat osteosarcoma https://childrenscancer.org/a-vaccine-for-hard-to-treat-osteosarcoma/ Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:52:08 +0000 https://childrenscancer.org/?p=11766 Dr. Kleinerman is a professor of Pediatrics and Cancer Biology at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. With support from an Accelerating Impact for Hard-to-Treat Cancer Award from CCRF, she’s developing a novel vaccine to treat osteosarcoma that has spread to the lungs.

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