News & events

Jasper Van der Lugt, M.D., Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology

Leverage biospecimens and data from PNOC022 clinical trial in an effort to better comprehend the role of the intestinal microbiome in relation to treatment response. The results of this research have the potential to support the hypothesis within PNOC022 that changes in the microbiome can serve as predictive markers for clinical outcomes in pediatric DMG.

Nicholas Vitanza, M.D., Seattle Children’s Hospital

Evaluation of promising drugs against DMG in combination with B7-H3 CAR T cells. Dr. Vitanza’s team aims to assess the efficacy of these therapies in killing DMG cells and to understand how the drugs impact the function of the CAR T cells. His goal, ultimately, is to advance combinational clinical trials that maintain the effectiveness of the CAR T cells.

Dr. John Prensner, M.D., PhD, University of Michigan

Delve into RNA associated with the H3K27M mutation, which is prevalent in approximately 80% of all DIPG and DMG tumors. His research will aim to investigate whether ribosome-stressing inhibitors can induce improper ribosome behavior, leading to cell death in pre-clinical disease models. This work has the potential to shed light on the relationship between stress resulting from ribosome dysfunction and DIPG cell behavior.

Randy Schrenegost, Ph.D., Targepeutics Therapeutics

Completion of pre-clinical requirements necessary to initiate a Phase I clinical trial for the use of the novel immunotoxin GB 13 in treating DIPG and DMG. Targepeutics Therapeutics plans to manufacture clinical-grade GB 13 and will conduct toxicology testing with the aim of testing GB 13 as a therapeutic option for children diagnosed with DIPG/DMG. This grant will be added to other foundation funding for this important work.

With this grant cycle of $400,000 DDRFA has now funded over $2 Million in grants since June 2022.