On Continuing Quest to Find a Cure for Childhood Cancer, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Announces 2011 Grant Recipients

Foundation to Distribute Nearly $4 Million in Awards to Fund Pediatric Oncology Research


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:

www.ALSFgrants.org

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

Gillian@AlexsLemonade.org

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.


This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com

The following files are available for download:

wkr0001.pdf PDF