2023 Grants & Researchers
CancerFree KIDS is Awarding $1.25 Million in Research Grants!
This year we are excited to announce that we will be investing a record-breaking $1.25 million to fund 21 research grants at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus! We are funding 18 New Idea Awards and 3 Accelerator Awards to help carry out our mission to find gentler, more effective treatments for kids battling cancer by funding some of the most promising ideas in pediatric cancer today.
This incredible milestone would not be possible without the unwavering support from our CancerFree KIDS community. Thank you to each and every one of you for making this possible, we can't wait to witness the ongoing progress and exciting results of our 2023 grant investment with you.
2023 Research Grants Awarded to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
New Idea Awards
altafiber Research Grant: Arman Bayat; Targeting DIPG/DMG with innovative proton therapy
DBL Law Research Grant: Daniel Starczynowski, PhD; Developing novel UBE2N inhibitors for cancer using DNA-encoded library screen
Gusweiler Friends & Family Research Grant: Xin Duan; Developing a Novel Strategy to Treat Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia
Interlink Cloud Advisors Research Grant: Bailee Kain, PhD; Utilizing a human stem cell derived bone marrow organoid model to study AML
Jersey Mike's Research Grant: Liang Hu, RDMS; Agonist therapy for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors
Maddie's Hope Research Grant: Anusha Anukanth, MD; Exploring the role of feeder cells in NK cell priming
Schroth Family Research Grant: Ramesh Nayak, PhD; SATB2, a novel target to eradicate leukemia initiating cells (LIC) in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).
Wirtz Family Research Grant in Memory of Jacob: Mohammad Azam, PhD; Targeting immune-resistance to CAR-T cell therapy in B-ALL
Accelerator Award
Wolf Pack Research Grant in memory of Grant Wolf: Zaili Luo, PhD; Novel chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy for diffuse midline gliomas
The ENGRAFT Learning Network
The BFF Fund Research Grant: Stella Davies, MBBS, PhD, MRCP; ENGRAFT - a Transplant and Cellular Therapy Learning Network
2023 Research Grants Awarded to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH
New Idea Awards
Butterfly Walk Research Grant in honor of Marko: Elizabeth Garfinkle, PhD; Mapping spatial heterogeneity of the tumor immune microenvironment and its contribution to immune evasion in pediatric rhabdoid tumors
Chard Snyder Research Grant: Masako Shimamura, MD; Optimizing Virus Specific T cells against Adenovirus after Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
CTI Research Grant: Genevieve Kendall, PhD; CRISPR-Cas13 targeting of PAX3::FOXO1 for treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma
Donatos Research Grant: Rachel Hoffman, PhD; Investigating epigenomic and genomic instability in fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma
MariClaire and Mark Anderson Research Grant: Ravi Dhital, MSc, PhD; CXCL10 and IL-21 therapy to improve humoral activity against malignant glioma antigens.
Naperville Marathoners Research Grant: Brian Hutzen; Combination Therapy of Off-The-Shelf CRISPR/AAV Generated Gamma/Delta CAR-T Cells and Oncolytic Viruses for Neuroblastoma
Night for the Fight Research Grant in Honor of Eliana Boerner: Julie Tomolonis, MD, PhD; Targeting Pediatric Solid Tumor Stroma with Gene-Based Bispecifics
Paxton's Golf Outing Research Grant: Long-Sheng Chang, PhD; Combining a multi-kinase inhibitor with an mTORC1-selective inhibitor to effectively shrink meningioma
Sycamore Capital Research Grant: James Reinecke, MD; Elucidating the role of microenvironmental induced cell state switching in medulloblastoma leptomeningeal metastasis
Accelerator Awards
ProMach Research Grant: John Sherman; An epigenetic link to the mitochondria
Visionary Society Research Grant: Meisam Naeimi Kararoudi, DVM, PhD; Engineering CAR-expressing NK cells against Nucleolin for Childhood Cancer Therapy