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Young Investigator Grants

Young Investigator grants are designed to fill the critical need for startup funds for less experienced researchers to pursue promising research ideas. Eligible applicants may apply during their fellowship training or early in their research careers but must not have achieved an appointment higher than Instructor. These grants encourage and cultivate the best and brightest researchers of the future and lead to long-term research projects. The Young Investigator grant offers up to $60,000 per year for three years.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

An individual's immune system should be capable of recognizing growing tumor cells as foreign and destroy them, as is done with viral and bacterial infections. Evidence for this in humans includes the spontaneous regression of certain cancers such as neuroblastoma. One possible explanation for why this does not happen with all cancers is that growing tumors do not provide a danger signal to the immune system, and thus, do not activate the immune system to kill.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Heather Symons

Project Title: 

Exploring a novel immunotherapy: cooperation of endogenous CD8+ t-cells and exogenous, allogeneic CD4+ t-cells.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Massachusetts General Hospital

This project will uncover genetic pathways and FDA approved drugs that have novel anti-tumor activity in a rare, pediatric malignancy of muscle -- embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS).  Rhabdomyosarcoma effects over 250 patients annually in the United States, of which ERMS is the most common subtype.   Our work has already identified a key genetic pathway involved in ERMS tumor growth, the RAS pathway.  Remarkably, this same pathway is also perturbed in over 30% of all human cancer, suggesting that uncovering effective drugs for the treatment of ERMS may have more far reaching clinical implica

Principal Investigator Name: 

David Langenau

Project Title: 

Identification of FDA approved drugs with anti-tumor activity in rhabdomyosarcoma.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Huntsman Cancer Institute

Ewing sarcoma is a highly malignant bone cancer that occurs mostly in children and teenagers. Conventional treatment for Ewing sarcoma consists of multi-drug chemotherapy and surgery and/or radiation. These intensive treatments are toxic and have severe side effects and yet failed to improve the overall cure rate. New and effective therapies are needed.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Wen Luo

Project Title: 

GSTM4, a novel target for treating Ewing sarcoma.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Epigenetics are types of mechanisms that that occur in a cell that do not permanently alter the DNA code but can contribute to the regulation of genes. DNA methylation is part of a complex mechanism that affects the chromosomal structure of a gene. It is known that aberrant DNA methylation occurs in cancer cells and can silence genes that would normally prevent cancer formation. Hypermethylation of these "tumor suppressor genes" has been shown to affect nearly all adult and pediatric cancers.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Scott Borinstein

Project Title: 

Aberrant DNA methylation in Ewing sarcoma.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

One major cause of death from cancer occurs when tumor cells leave their native location and colonize new areas in the body, causing disruption of normal biological events in that tissue or organ system. New methods of killing these cells are required, and one promising approach is to take advantage of the "stressed" nature of cancer cells, specifically killing them while leaving surrounding cells unharmed.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Ujwal Pyati

Project Title: 

Genetic Regulators of ER Stress-induced Apoptosis in Pediatric Malignancies

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Neuroblastoma is a tumor of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system that accounts for approximately 15% of all deaths due to childhood cancer. High-risk neuroblastoma, prevalent in the majority of patients, is rapidly progressive and even with intensive chemotherapy relapse is common. Therefore, novel strategies that exploit genetic alterations in this aggressive cancer need to be sought.  We have reported previously unknown mutations that affect key portions of the ALK gene and indicate that ALK has potential as a novel therapeutic target in neuroblastoma.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Rani George

Project Title: 

Identification of proteins interacting with ALK in neuroblastoma.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Children’s National Medical Center

Current methods for treating tumors include surgery, chemo-therapy and radiation therapy. Immune therapy is a fourth dimension to cancer therapy that has great potential, but this potential is as yet unmet. We propose that a powerful immune response can be generated against a tumor by targeting specific cells of the immune system. These immune cells are involved in the immune response to fight "foreign bodies". We have evidence that specialized receptors and cells can be stimulated in the patient to shape the ideal immune response against a tumor.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Suzanne Miles

Project Title: 

Immune Stimulatory Antigen Loaded Particles (ISAPS) for the Treatment of Solid Childhood Tumors

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Children’s Mercy

The fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of development of human malignancies is of central importance to our comprehension of human cancers, and ultimately, essential to the design of effective treatments. Dr.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Erin Guest

Project Title: 

MLL-based chromosomal translocations in the pathogenesis of childhood leukemia.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Cancer Research Center of Hawaii

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer that doctors have a difficult time identifying.  This delay allows the cancer to progress into the advanced stages of the disease when the tumor cells begin to spread throughout the child's body to other organs.  At this late stage of tumor development, it is a challenge to find the most effective treatment for this cancer.  In addition, if children are diagnosed past the age of two years, the predicted outcome is poor and the current treatment strategies have proven to have little or no effect on the growth and spread of the cancer cells.  The advanced s

Principal Investigator Name: 

Dana-Lynn Koomoa

Project Title: 

DFMO-based combination therapy for the treatment of advanced stage neuroblastoma.

Year Awarded: 

2009

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Background

My research interest is a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, and specifically the alveolar variant.  Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive childhood tumor that is difficult to treat when the disease goes beyond the primary site and is virtually incurable when widely metastatic.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Koichi Nishijo, MD, PhD

Project Title: 

Mediators of Metastasis in Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Year Awarded: 

2006

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

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