Background
New treatments are urgently needed to combat relapsed and refractory pediatric cancers. A specialized group of proteins, called the BCL-2 family, regulates the natural balance between cellular life and death, ensuring that essential cells are preserved and damaged cells eliminated.

Background
Cancers arise because of mutations (or mistakes) in their genes. For many cancers, the identification of their most important cancer genes, and an improved understanding of how these effect the cancer cells, has led to new treatments. Neuroblastoma is a childhood tumor that is often difficult to cure.

Background

Background
The aggressive and unpredictable behavior of relapsed T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) presents a major clinical challenge, as relapsed disease continues to have a dismal prognosis in both children and adults. A major hurdle in the development of new chemotherapies is identifying drugs that specifically kill malignant T cells, while leaving normal cells untouched.

Background
miRNAs are small molecules involved in almost every aspect of normal cellular function throughout the human body. The DICER1 protein is one of the proteins responsible for fabricating the right size, type and quantity of miRNAs in our cells. We know from recent studies that inherited mutations in the DICER1 gene predispose someone to cancer. These mutations are rare but cause tumors that occur early in life, affecting children and young adults (one example is malignant lung cysts in infants, named pleuropulmonary blastoma, which can be lethal).