WYNNEWOOD, Pa., July 8, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to finding a cure for all kids with cancer, today announced the awarding of nearly $4 million in new medical research grants. The medical grants will extend to 29 institutions and universities in 16 states across the country, totaling 40 new grants. In addition to awarding grants to doctors and researchers at leading hospitals and institutions nationwide, the foundation will also release grants to medical and graduate students for the first time in 2011.
Following in the footsteps of foundation creator, Alexandra "Alex" Scott, who insisted that "all children want their tumors to go away," Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation strives to fund research projects that focus on all types of childhood cancers, not just the type that Alex had. Within the scope of the 2011 pediatric oncology grants are projects focusing on: brain tumors, medulloblastoma, leukemias, neuroblastoma, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors and rhabdomyosarcoma, among others.
The current grant cycle released awards in three categories: Innovation, Program Infrastructure and Young Investigator. Additionally, the foundation is awarding the first of its grants in the Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program. The program, which is designed to attract the intelligence of medical and graduate students who may enter the field of pediatric oncology, sought applications from those looking to continue their work in the laboratory over the summer. The POST Program is another example of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation's dedication to funding the best and brightest researchers in the battle against childhood cancer.
"We have always believed in funding the very best research available, and the best ideas out there," says Jay Scott, Alex's dad and Executive Director of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. "We have been on a mission to attract those doctors and researchers leading the way to cures, and in 2011, we are continuing to do that through our established grant program and the addition of the POST Program for medical and graduate students."
"It is an honor for me to be awarded the Alex's Lemonade Stand fellowship and to be able to use this to support the scientific and career development as a future research leader in the molecular pathogenesis of AML and MDS," says Young Investigator Grantee Evisa Gjini, PhD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"Receiving the 2011 POST Program grant is a huge encouragement to me and an opportunity to learn more about pediatric cancer," says Tulika Tyagi, of Texas Tech University. "I am excited about my research and will make the best use of the training this summer and for years to come."
This grant cycle focuses on three types of grants:
- Innovation Awards providing critical and significant seed funding designed for experienced investigators with a novel and promising approach to finding causes and cures for childhood cancers.
- Program Infrastructure Awards providing funding for support personnel or critical equipment which results in speeding up the process of enrolling children with cancer in clinical trials.
- Young Investigator Awards designed to fill the critical need for start up funds for new researchers and physicians to pursue promising research ideas.
Additionally, in 2011, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation has added the POST Program:
- Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) designed to enable medical and graduate students to gain experience in the lab of an established researcher in the field of pediatric oncology over the summer months.
(A complete list of grant recipients can be found below)
Believing that quality of care and life for childhood cancer patients can be equally integral to their treatment and survival, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation also funds the research of nurses. The foundation is now accepting applications for Nurse Researcher Grants and a two-day Nurse Researcher Workshop in Philadelphia.
Research funded by ALSF has been featured in The New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Molecular Therapy, AACR Journal, Oncogene, Nature and more.
For more information on the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation grant programs, visit:
About Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation:
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra "Alex" Scott (1996-2004). In 2000, 4-year-old Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of volunteers across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. To date, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised more than $40 million toward fulfilling Alex's dream of finding a cure, funding over 200 research projects in the United States and Canada.
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation 2011 Grant Recipients
Innovation Awards 2011
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Jason Shohet, MD/PhD
Strategies for Epigenetically Reprogramming Neuroblastoma Cancer Stem Cells
Children's Hospital Boston, MA
George Daley, MD/PhD
Investigating the Role of Lin-28 in Germ Cell Tumorigenesis
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA
Markus Muschen, MD
Targeting Inhibitory Phosphatase Signaling in High-Risk Childhood ALL
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
Michael Hogarty, MD
BH3 Profiling to Define Therapy Resistance Classes in Neuroblastoma
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Alfred Tom Look, MD
In vivo Analysis of Neuroblastoma Pathogenesis using Transgenic Zebrafish
Duke University, Durham, NC
Duane Mitchell, MD/PhD
Clinical Development of RNA Nanoparticle Vaccines Targeting Recurrent Pediatric Brain Cancers
New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY
Brian Dynlacht, PhD
The Role of Primary Cilia in Rhabdomyosarcoma
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD
Modeling Anaplastic Medulloblastoma Using Cerebellar Stem Cells
Stanford University School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, CA
Matthew Porteus, MD/PhD
Studying the Clonal Dynamics and Evolution of Leukemia Using Molecular Barcodes
University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Alice Yu, MD/PhD
Predicting Outcome and Ameliorating Toxicities of the Immunotherapy of Neuroblastoma
University of California San Francisco, CA
William Weiss, MD/PhD
Blockade of MYCN in Neuroblastoma
University of Chicago, IL
Susan Cohn, MD
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Survival in Children with Neuroblastoma
Program Infrastructure Awards 2011
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Lewis Silverman, MD
Development of a Childhood Leukemia Translational Research Program
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
Jim Whitlock, MD
SickKids MIBG and Phase I Leukemia Programs
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Brenda Weigel, MD
Phase I and II Clinical Research Program Infrastructure Award
University of Pittsburgh, PA
A. Kim Ritchey, MD
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Phase 1-2 Infrastructure Support Grant
Young Investigator Awards 2011
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Maria Gramatges, MD
Telomeres and Telomerase in Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Evisa Gjini, PhD
Using Zebrafish to Model the Molecular Origins of Pediatric Myeloid Malignancies and Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Duke University, Durham, NC
Michael Armstrong, MD/PhD
The Role of Mxi1 in the Modulation N-Myc Function in Neuroblastoma
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Rebecca Gardner, MD
Engineering a Graft Versus Leukemia Effect into Cord Blood Transplant for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Amy Belton, PhD
Targeting HMGA1 in Childhood ALL
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Eric Raabe, MD/PhD
Altering Master Genetic Regulators SNF5/INI1 and LIN28A to Model and Treat Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
David Sykes, MD/PhD
Targeting the Mechanism of Differentiation Arrest in a Novel Model of Acute Leukemia
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
Fernanda Arnaldez, MD
Identification of Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma 'Achilles' Heel'
University of California San Francisco, CA
Jean Nakamura, MD
Investigation of Genetic and Molecular Mechanisms of Second Malignant Neoplasms in a Mouse Model
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Mark Chiang, MD/PhD
Mechanisms of Oncogenic Transformation by TLX1/HOX11
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, TX
Mark Hatley, MD/PhD
Validation of MicroRNAs as Valid Targets in a Pediatric Sarcoma
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Emmanuel Volanakis, MD
Targeting Polycomb-Mediated Epigenetic Silencing in T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
POST Program Awards 2011
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Jeremy Price, Medical Student
Project Area- General Pediatric Cancer, Leukemia/ALL
Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, CA
Darren Jason Russell, Medical Student
Project Area- Medulloblastoma, Glioma
Duke University, Durham, NC
Julie Grondin Kephart, Graduate Student
Project Area- Rhabdomyosarcoma
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Alison Brianna O'Neill, Medical Student
Project Area- Ewing's Sarcoma
Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT
Jonathan Michael Downie, Medical Student
Project Area- Leukemia/ALL
New York University School of Medicine, NY
Nathaly Pauletthe Llore, Graduate Student
Project Area- Medulloblastoma
Texas Tech University, The Institute of Environmental and Human Health, Lubbock, TX
Tulika Tyagi, Graduate Student
Project Area- Wilms' Tumor
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
Marci Laudenslager, Medical Student
Project Area- Neuroblastoma
University of California San Francisco, CA
Chelsea Anna Young, Medical Student
Project Area- Leukemia/ALL
The University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, Kansas City, KS
Patrick Thomas Grogan, Medical Student
Project Area- General Brian Tumors, Glioma, Medulloblastoma
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Yang Ding, Medical Student
Project Area- Leukemia/AML
University of Rochester, NY
Brooks Lawrence Savery Rademacher, Medical Student
Project Area-Leukemia/ALL
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
610-649-3034
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra "Alex" Scott (1996-2004). In 2000, 4-year-old Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of volunteers across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. To date, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised more than $40 million toward fulfilling Alex's dream of finding a cure, funding over 200 research projects in the United States and Canada.
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