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 $50,000 per year for three years.

>> Download the 2025 Young Investigator Grant Guidelines

University of Vermont

Background

Leukemia is the most common pediatric cancer. While some types of leukemia respond very well to current treatment, others, such as AML, still have unacceptably low cure rates of 40-50%. A better understanding of the way leukemia evolves is necessary in order to develop new treatments.

Principal Investigator Name:

Jessica Linda Heath, MD

Project Title:

Critical Contributions of CRM1 to Leukemogenesis

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Quality of Life

Institution:

University of Vermont

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Shuning He, PhD

Project Title:

A Translational Approach to Identify Drugs with Specific Activity Against EZH2 Mutant High Risk T-ALLs and ETP ALLs that Overexpress the JDP2 bZIP Transcription Factor

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto

As featured in the November 2015 ALSF e-newsletter:

Principal Investigator Name:

Sumit Gupta, MD, PhD

Project Title:

The Effect of Locus of Care Upon Adolescent and Young Adults Cancer Outcomes: An IMPACT Cohort Study

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Hospital for Sick Children

University of Florida

Background

Despite aggressive multimodality treatment, pediatric brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer related deaths in children. The development of efficacious therapies against these tumors is of paramount importance. Immunotherapeutic approaches against solid tumors can be curative with a demonstrably high degree of specificity, and adoptive T cell therapy using tumor infiltrating lymphocytes has proven to be the most efficacious platform against metastatic disease.

Project Goal

Principal Investigator Name:

Catherine Flores, PhD

Project Title:

Novel Role of Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Immunologic Rejection of Malignant Pediatric Brain Tumors

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of Florida

Stanford University

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Ramin Dubey, PhD

Project Title:

Genetic Dissection of Cancer Drug Resistance and Toxicity Using Haploid Human Cells

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Leukemia

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Stanford University

Files:

Chromatin-Remodeling Complex SWI/SNF Controls Multidrug Resistance by Transcriptionally Regulating the Drug Efflux Pump ABCB1

Emory University

Background

Medulloblastomas, the most common solid malignant pediatric tumor, arise in the developing cerebellum, a part of the brain controlling posture and coordination which develops during childhood. These tumors are currently treated with surgery, cranio-spinal radiation, and chemotherapy. Survivors suffer devastating life-long side effects due to the damage these treatments do to the still-developing brain, and metastasis and recurrence are lethal.

Project Goal

Principal Investigator Name:

Abhinav Dey, PhD

Project Title:

The YB1 Way of Surviving Radiation, Pediatric Brain Tumor Resistance and Recurrence

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Emory University

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Challice Bonifant, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Engager T Cells: A Novel Immunotherapeutic for AML

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

University of Michigan

Children's Hospital Boston

Background

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), or bone marrow transplantation, is the most aggressive treatment available for children with high-risk or relapsed leukemia. Despite this aggressive treatment, half of the children who receive HSCT will ultimately die of their disease or the side effects of transplantation. Consequently it is important for us to identify new ways to improve the safety and efficacy of HSCT.

Principal Investigator Name:

Bradley Blaser, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Engraftment by the Endothelial Cell Niche

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Leukemia

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Boston Children’s Hospital

Files:

blaser_2017_journal_of_experimental_medicine.pdf

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Background

Principal Investigator Name:

Tovah Day, PhD

Project Title:

The Role of PARP3 in the Formation of Chromosomal Translocations

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Background

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) accounts for 20% of pediatric leukemias, and despite considerable improvements in treatment, has an approximately 50% mortality rate. Mutations in AML can be classified into two categories: type I that stimulate proliferation, and type II that inhibit normal differentiation. C/EBPa, a protein critical for normal maturation of myeloid cells, is decreased in the majority of AML cases. Previously, the Friedman laboratory identified a DNA region encoding a C/EBPa enhancer, which functions to increase its production.

Principal Investigator Name:

Stacy Cooper, MD

Project Title:

The Cebpa Downstream Enhancer as a Key Target of Transformation to Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Year Awarded:

2015

Cancer Research Category:

Category of Grant:

Young Investigator Grants

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe:

Medical

Institution:

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

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