Dana-Farber researchers receive $5M grant for childhood cancer research
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center have received a 4-year, $5 million Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Crazy 8 Award for childhood cancer research, according to a press release.
Lisa R. Diller, MD, vice chair of the department of pediatric oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and pediatric oncologist at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and colleagues will collaborate with investigators in the department of newborn medicine at Mass General Brigham and researchers at Baylor College of Medicine.
The group will work to expand newborn blood testing, with the “heel-stick” test, to screen for several genetic cancer predisposition syndromes, which could decrease cancer mortality among infants found to be at risk for cancer, according to the release.
“Over the past decade, we have been able to determine that as many as 10% of young children who develop cancer have an underlying genetic predisposition to the disease,” Diller said in the release. “If we know who is at risk, we can intervene and find cancers early or even learn how to prevent them.”
The Crazy 8 Award, launched in 2020, has so far invested $35 million toward eight collaborative projects in childhood cancer.
“For 25 years, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has been dedicated to bringing hope and better outcomes to children with cancer,” Liz Scott, Alex’s mother and co-executive director of the foundation, said in the release. “These groundbreaking studies represent the future of pediatric oncology — moving beyond treatment to prevention and early detection. Alex believed in the power of research to change lives, and these initiatives are a testament to her vision.”