AACR Pediatric Cancer Think-Tank

This week the AACR held a think-tank in Philadelphia on the critical issues in childhood cancer research and care delivery.   In attendance were 43 invitees from universities, pharmaceutical companies and patient advocacy groups.  Topics included prevention (yes, prevention!), improved care for hereditable cancer predispositions, making drugs available for children with cancer, and the promise of genomics in delivering personalized cancer care.  Charles presented on the topic that not only mutation but also cell of origin strongy influences response to treatment - and the types of epigenetic therapies that can be given.  

exciting news

How much is a tumor like a wound?  Will tumor cells interact with the body's normal muscle stem cells, co-opting them for advantage to the tumor?  Can IL-4 Receptor antibodies block this process? These are the questions in our NIH R01 grant application that was scored this week in the top 4% of grants for that review cycle (usually, the top 9% of grants are funded).  We're very excited about this grant, and the probable 5 years of funding to pursue these question that we think will benefit patients with rhabdomyosarcoma in a tangible way.  Kudos to Megan, who took strong work by Imran, Tohru and GH to the next level and made this project possible.

 

SARC SPORE meeting

We presented our research project in collaboration with Dr. David Langenau (MGH) at today's SARC clinical trial consortium SPORE meeting - we are grateful for this 2 year pilot project funding.  Differentiation as a therapy for rhabdomyosarcoma? possibly! 

upcoming lab participation & talks

AACR Pediatric Cancer Think Tank (October 2014)
Pablove Foundation Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Symposium Think Tank (November 2014)
AACR Recent Advances Sessions (April 2015)
AACR Special Conference on The Basic Science of Sarcomas (November 2015)