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

University of California at Santa Cruz

Background:

Most patients having high-risk neuroblastoma (NBL)--primarily a childhood cancer--do not achieve long-term survival and eventually succumb to an incurable disease recurrence. Further, the limited involvement of pharmaceutical companies and small patient cohorts hinder the development of new drugs for pediatric cancers.

Principal Investigator Name:

David Haussler, PhD

Project Title:

Integrative Genomic and Immunogenomic Analysis of Neuroblastoma

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Neuroblastoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of California at Santa Cruz

Massachusetts General Hospital

Background:

Genome instability and drug resistance are hallmark features of cancer, especially neuroblastoma. We have recently uncovered the first enzyme KDM4A capable of generating site-specific copy gains of regions linked to drug resistance and hard to treat cancer, which provides a novel tool to carefully interrogate the molecular features affiliated with copy gains.

Project Goal:

Principal Investigator Name:

Johnathan Whetstine, PhD

Project Title:

Identifying Epigenetic Mechanisms Impacting Neuroblastoma Genome Stability and Drug Response

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Neuroblastoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Massachusetts General Hospital

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Background:

Principal Investigator Name:

Roland Walter, MD, PhD & James Olson, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Optimizing Bispecific Antibody Therapy for Acute Leukemias

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Georgetown University

Background:

Principal Investigator Name:

Todd Waldman, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Functional Analysis and Therapeutic Targeting of STAG2 Mutations in Ewing sarcoma

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Ewing Sarcoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Georgetown University

University of Wisconsin

Background:

Principal Investigator Name:

Paul Sondel, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Identifying how Pre-existing Anti-Therapeutic Antibodies (PATA) are Associated with Better Outcome in a Clinical Trial of ADCC-inducing Anti-GD2 mAb

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Children's Hospital of Los Angeles

Background:

Principal Investigator Name:

Robert Seeger, MD & Alan Wayne, MD

Project Title:

Antibody Targeted Natural Killer Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles for the Treatment of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Neuroblastoma

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Neuroblastoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

University of North Carolina

Background:

Principal Investigator Name:

Timothy Gershon, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Preclinical Development of Atr Inhibitor VE-822, Delivered Systemically in Nanoparticles, for Medulloblastoma Therapy

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Medulloblastoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of North Carolina

Virginia Commonwealth University

Background:

Neuroblastoma is the second deadliest cancer in children. This is largely attributed to high-risk neuroblastoma, which often has an abnormality known as MYCN amplification. Targeted therapies are newer cancer therapies that have already revolutionized how cancer is treated. Despite all the successes of targeted therapies, there have been no proven targeted therapy options for MYCN amplified neuroblastoma.

Project Goal:

Principal Investigator Name:

Anthony Faber, MD & Yael Mosse, MD (CHOP)

Project Title:

Pharmacogenomics and Drug Screening Lead to a Novel Targeted Therapy with Potent and Specific Activity Against Mouse Models of MYCN-amplified Neuroblastoma

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Neuroblastoma

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Virginia Commonwealth University

Stanford University School of Medicine

Background:

Principal Investigator Name:

Michael Cleary, MD

Project Title:

Single Cell Analysis of Leukemia Initiation

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Stanford University

Boston Children's Hospital

Background:

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is an aggressive blood cancer of young children, typically affecting those less than 4 years of age. The only current curative treatment is bone marrow transplantation. Yet, despite this very aggressive therapy about 50% of children still ultimately die from their disease. Thus, more effective and less toxic treatments are urgently needed.

Project Goal:

Principal Investigator Name:

Alan Cantor, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Transcriptional Effectors of Activated RAS Signaling in Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML)

Category of Grant:

Innovation Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Boston Children’s Hospital

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