The Childhood Cancer Blog

The Childhood Cancer Blog

Welcome to The Childhood Cancer Blog
from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation!

Fighting Childhood Cancer, Thousands of Datasets at a Time
  • CCDL director, Casey Greene, PhD, believes the best is still to come. We interviewed Casey about the CCDL’s advancements and what exciting developments are ahead.
    The CCDL team regularly trains pediatric oncology researchers on how to use refine.bio to accelerate the pace of their research.
  • The CCDL Team (from L to R): Casey Greene, Candace Savonen, Kurt Wheeler, Ariel Rodriguez Romero, Deepa Prasad
    The CCDL Team (from L to R): Casey Greene, Candace Savonen, Kurt Wheeler, Ariel Rodriguez Romero, Deepa Prasad
  • refine.bio brings together decades of data sets for childhood cancer researchers to download and use for their own research.
    refine.bio brings together decades of data sets for childhood cancer researchers to download and use for their own research.

The Childhood Cancer Data Lab (CCDL) started with what seemed like a simple mission: develop tools to help pediatric oncology researchers access data, easily and quickly, in order to speed the work towards cures. 

Of course, creating those tools is anything but simple. 

Take refine.bio, the CCDL’s online repository of childhood cancer data. This tool took several decades' worth of publicly available childhood cancer data, all written in different languages, translated it, and placed it all in one... Read More

Meet the Data Scientist Using Big Data for Cures for Childhood Cancer
“Data is the lifeblood of science,” says Jaclyn Taroni, PhD, data scientist at the CCDL, “Data can better equip researchers to ask the really important scientific questions and to do so efficiently and robustly, as they work towards cures for childhood cancer.”

“Data is the lifeblood of science,” says Jaclyn Taroni, PhD, data scientist at the Childhood Cancer Data Lab.

When you think of childhood cancer research, you may imagine samples in test tubes and microscopes or a drug being tested in a clinic. And while childhood cancer research certainly happens in a biochem lab and in a clinic, it also happens inside the Childhood Cancer Data Lab (CCDL).  Funded by ALSF, the CCDL team is working to harness the power of big data and use it to cure childhood cancer. 

So what is big data? 

“Data is the lifeblood of science,” says Jaclyn Taroni, PhD, data... Read More

5 Reasons to Host a DIY Lemonade Stand This Year
  • Around the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation office, hosting lemonade stands is the family business. It started with Alex’s first DIY front yard lemonade stand and has now grown to include tens of thousands of lemonade stands hosted by families, kids, businesses and community groups all around the world! 

by Trish Adkins

Around the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation office, hosting lemonade stands is our speciality. It started with Alex’s first DIY front yard lemonade stand and has now grown to include tens of thousands of lemonade stands hosted by families, kids, businesses and community groups all around the world!

We've seen DIY lemonade stands that are simple (a table and some lemonade), over-the-top (featuring the World's Largest Cup of Lemonade) and everything in between! No matter how you make your stand, you... Read More

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Featured Hero

Mikaila "Roo" Stafford

Mikaila was a sweet and spunky girl whose three years of laughter and smiles made for a lifetime well spent. She was diagnosed with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) without primary – meaning she did not have a primary mass or tumor.
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