Innovation Grants

These grants are designed to provide critical and significant seed funding for experienced investigators with a novel and promising approach to finding causes and cures for childhood cancers. A Letter of Intent is required. The Innovation Award amount totals $250,000 over two years. The Award may not be renewed, however, one no cost extensions are allowable.

Download the 2025 Innovation Grant Full Application Guidelines

Developing drugs to treat NT5C2 mediated resistance in pediatric ALL

The cure rate for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has improved remarkably over the last four decades. However in spite of this improvement 10% to 15% of children will suffer a recurrence and their prognosis is dismal making ALL one of the leading causes of death due to cancer in children. We and others have shown that relapse is due to the outgrowth of a resistant subclone and we have discovered that these subclones contain mutations in genes that regulate response to the drugs used in therapy. This is true for both conventional, as well as, new immunotherapeutic agents.

Principal Investigator Name:

William Carroll, MD

Project Title:

Developing drugs to treat NT5C2 mediated resistance in pediatric ALL

Year Awarded:

2019

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

New York University School of Medicine

Physical Properties of Drug-Resistant Leukemia Cells

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Yong-mi Kim, MD/PhD

Project Title:

Physical Properties of Drug-Resistant Leukemia Cells

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Targeting the ALT Pathway to Induce Synthetic Lethality and Treat Poor Outcome Pediatric Tumors

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, PhD

Project Title:

Targeting the ALT Pathway to Induce Synthetic Lethality and Treat Poor Outcome Pediatric Tumors

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of California, Davis

Alternative Splicing Driven by MYCN Activates RAS-MAPK in Neuroblastoma

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

William Weiss, MD/PhD

Project Title:

Alternative Splicing Driven by MYCN Activates RAS-MAPK in Neuroblastoma

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Neuroblastoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of California San Francisco

RNA-ECS to Quantify Rare Clonal RNA Species at Diagnosis, Remission and Relapse from the COG AAML1031 Study

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Todd Druley, MD/PhD

Project Title:

RNA-ECS to Quantify Rare Clonal RNA Species at Diagnosis, Remission and Relapse from the COG AAML1031 Study

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Washington University

Targeting Glutamine Addiction in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas (DIPGs)

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Sriram Venneti, MD/PhD

Project Title:

Targeting Glutamine Addiction in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas (DIPGs)

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of Michigan

RNA Methylation in Metabolically Disrupted Pediatric Cancers

Background
Epigenetic changes, including methylation, are reversible chemical modifications that can affect gene expression. DNA, histones (the proteins that package the DNA) and RNA are subject to such modifications. Aberrant DNA and histone methylation have been clearly linked to cancer, however, the impact of RNA methylation in cancers is poorly understood. In the present study, we propose that the deregulation of RNA methylation is pervasive in cancers with mutations in energy metabolism genes.

Principal Investigator Name:

Patricia Dahia, MD/PhD

Project Title:

RNA Methylation in Metabolically Disrupted Pediatric Cancers

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

General Pediatric Cancer

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Is SIRT5 a Therapy Target in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia?

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Michael Deininger, MD/PhD

Project Title:

Is SIRT5 a Therapy Target in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia?

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of Utah

Targeting Oncogenic RAS in Pediatric Leukemia

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Loren Walensky, MD/PhD

Project Title:

Targeting Oncogenic RAS in Pediatric Leukemia

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Identifying New Therapeutic Targets in Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Julien Sage, PhD

Project Title:

Identifying New Therapeutic Targets in Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Year Awarded:

2018

Cancer Research Category:

General Pediatric Cancer

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Stanford University

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