The Ty Louis Campbell Fellowship
Weill Cornell Medicine
In 2014, The TLC Foundation announced the launch of a new pediatric brain tumor research fellowship at the Weill Cornell Medicine Children’s Brain Tumor Project.
Led by Co-Directors Dr. Mark Souweidane and Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield, The Children’s Brain Tumor Project shares our mission to improve the outcome for children with brain tumors by advancing scientific discovery and clinical research. The Ty Louis Campbell Fellowship is an ongoing annual grant of $65,000 to support Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield’s research in precision medicine by providing the funding for a dedicated neuro-scientist working in the lab.
TLC is proud to report the renewal of the fellowship through 2024.
2016 – 2023: To read recent peer-reviewed publications that were authored by the current Ty Louis Campbell Fellow, Carolina Cocito, visit this link to PUBMED.
2014 – 2015: To read peer-reviewed publications that were authored by the previous Ty Louis Campbell Fellow, Sheng Li, visit this link to PUBMED.
Understanding Anti-CD47 and Radiation Effect on Group 3 Medulloblastoma
Huntsman Cancer Research Institute
In 2023, the Ty Louis Campbell (TLC) Foundation supported the project “Leveraging Super-Multi-Parameter Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting Analysis to Obtain a Comprehensive Understanding of the Immune System Consequences of Irradiation and Anti-CD47 Treatments in Group 3 Medulloblastoma” with a $100,000 donation.
Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor in children, and the Group 3 subtype of MB is the deadliest type, with only 25% long-term survival. TLC was one of the first nonprofits to support Dr. Samuel Cheshier’s immunotherapy research since 2013, which recently proved that a therapy called “anti-CD47” can make immune system cells called “macrophages” literally eat tumor cells via a process called phagocytosis.
Furthermore, Cheshier’s team showed that anti-CD47 had potent activity against human group 3 MB cells while causing no harm to normal brain cells. We helped to fund the Phase 1 clinical trial with anti-CD47 in children with recurrent brain tumors, including group 3 MB, that is currently underway (see clinicaltrials.gov).
In anticipation of the next stage of anti-CD47 clinical trials, Dr. Cheshier is now conducting experiments to determine therapies that can further enhance the effectiveness of anti-CD47. His team is exploring how irradiation can be most effectively combined with anti-CD47. Cheshier has already determined that irradiation can greatly enhance macrophage eating of group 3 medulloblastoma cells by anti-CD47. However, irradiation can enhance and inhibit the immune system’s ability to fight cancers, and irradiation’s overall effect on the immune system, in terms of the anti-CD47 system, is entirely unknown.
This project leverages sophisticated research instruments to examine how group 3 medulloblastoma modulates the signals they send to the immune system in response to irradiation, anti-CD47, and when we combine the two treatments. From this data, we will understand how the tumor modulates each branch of the immune system, which will lead to data bio-signatures that indicate whether the immune system responds to the treatments and if the treatment is effective.
Furthermore, we will learn how to better combine many other immune therapies with irradiation and anti-CD47. This data will improve our understanding of the immunological consequences of each treatment and will directly inform future clinical trials, which we hope will improve treatment outcomes for children with group 3 medulloblastoma among other tumor types.
Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Network
Quarterly Research Conference in New York City
The Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Network (PBTRN) is a new initiative led by Principal Investigator Dr. Robert Wechsler-Reya at Columbia University. The quarterly meeting was created in 2022 as a vehicle to bring together scientists and physicians from and around New York City who are interested in pediatric brain tumor research. The meetings take place in-person and they feature unique talks from investigators at all research institutions in the metropolitan area. The quarterly meetings have attracted up to 70 attendees including faculty, postdocs, and students, who attend with the purpose of staying informed on current research, engaging in discussions, igniting new ideas, and identifying opportunities for collaborations. The Ty Louis Campbell Foundation and Solving Kids Cancer fund the initiative by paying for the venues, and will continue to do so indefinitely.
Bispecific CAR T Cell Immunotherapy for Ph-like ALL
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Children’s Hospital Colorado
In 2023, TLC pledged $200,000 over two years to help support a collaborative team of top researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Children’s Hospital Colorado to address Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) because it is a high-risk subset of leukemia with >60% relapse risk and a significant mortality rate among children and adolescents on current chemotherapy protocols.
Specifically, the research project is funding the preclinical work required to launch an important phase 1 clinical trial to test bi-specific CAR T cells. Led by Principal Investigators Dr. Sara Tasian (CHOP), and Dr. Terry Fry (Colorado), this project aims to test bispecific TSLPRxCD19CART and/or TSLPRxCD22CART constructs with the goal of identifying a clinical trial-ready CAR construct for phase 1 evaluation as early as 2024.
Of course, research is the reason why cure rates for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have increased from a six-month median survival to an 85% overall cure rate since 1970. Yet the survival rates drop to less than 40% for children who relapse, and those rates decrease even more with each relapse. We are hopeful that this phase 1 clinical trial can eventually change those statistics for relapse leukemia patients, as well.
Reimagining Precision Medicine
The Children’s Brain Tumor Project, Weill Cornell Medicine
TLC invested $67,000 thus far, and continues to invest in the advancement of precision medicine for children with cancer. The discovery of new treatments for children relies on the ability to access and study tumor tissue and genetic data, especially among rare tumor types (and all childhood cancer is considered rare). Without access to tumor tissue, life-saving research would not be possible. Even more importantly, the scientific findings resulting from the donation of tumor tissue may inform the child’s oncology team on potential therapeutic treatment options based on those findings.
Some laboratories, such as the Children’s Brain Tumor Project at Weill Cornell Medicine, already have the tools to collect tumor tissue from a patient and to analyze that tissue through genetic sequencing, bioinformatics, targeted therapy, immunophenotyping, and drug screening. In other words, this enables the research team to study the genetics of the tumor, seek targets based on the presence or absence of genetic mutations, test different drugs against the tumor, and discover unique ways in which the oncology team might be able to treat a child’s brain tumor more effectively.
Tailoring the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a patient based on the molecular characteristics of that patient’s disease is known as precision medicine, and TLC has been supporting the evolution of precision medicine as it pertains to childhood cancer since our inception.
Role of RP58 in the Loss of SMARCB1 in Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors
$75,000 in support of Dahmane Lab, Weill Cornell Medicine.
This project aims to study the interaction of transcription factor RP58 with neuronal differentiation and loss of SMARCB1. Transcription factors are proteins that regulate gene expression, and SMARCB1 has been identified as a key tumor suppressor gene, the loss of which is seen in the development of AT/RT and various sarcomas. Similar phenotypes in murine knockout systems and other experiments by the Dahmane lab have highlighted the stage-dependent interaction of RP58 with SMARCB1 and SMARCA4 and hypothesize that the loss this interaction with genetic deletion is important in the tumorigenesis of several malignant diseases, in particular AT/RT.
The group proposes to use conditional knockout systems and in vitro cell line as well as primary AT/RT tumor tissue samples to look at this potentially key interaction. They will then expand their findings into patient-derived animal models to look at the impact of the degree of differentiation as well as the loss of RP58 on clinical course of disease.
There is a fundamental lack of understanding of the underlying biochemical mechanisms of these heterogenous diseases to inform drug developers on what processes to discover and develop target therapies. The role of SMARCB1 in the development of many cases of AT/RT is well established and expanding this key finding to RP58 and the role of neuronal differentiation in disease pathogenesis should open avenues of investigation that could help to further prognosticate patients to more ideal treatments and eventually to develop therapies targeted to make up for the loss of one or both proteins.
In 2023, the results from this project proved to be so promising that the Dahmane lab was awarded TWO government grants to continue investigating AT/RT.
Gift from a Child – Tissue Navigators
In partnership with the Swifty Foundation.
The Ty Louis Campbell Foundation is proud to continue our support the Gift from a Child initiative, having contributed $100,000 toward their great work as of 2023. Our support helps to fund a “tissue navigator” at designated centers of excellence across the US, including Stanford, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, Children’s National, Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Centers of Excellence are regional autopsy sites designated to coordinate, process, store, and share post-mortem materials that enable research across institutions and increase information sharing.
Tragically, thousands of children die from brain tumors every year. Researchers and physicians do not know why the treatments do not work for these children. Until researchers are able to study the brain tissue of children who do not survive their cancer, it will remain a mystery why these children do not survive their disease. More so, it leaves the clinical team in the dark when treating new patients facing similar outcomes.
The Gift from a Child program addresses this need by facilitating the collection of a critical mass of brain tumor tissue samples to inform scientists on how tumors behave and how to prevent them from forming. Understanding more about each unique tumor type allows doctors to prescribe specific treatments for each individual child. This helps to minimize the harmful side effects of many treatments that are currently available, and increases the quality of life for children diagnosed with these diseases.
The Tissue Navigator is an individual who will educate patients, families, and staff about the value of tissue donation, assist patients and families with the logistics related to making such a donation at the time of a child’s death, and coordinate tissue donations from other local and regional centers that don’t have formal donation programs in place.
Without collaborative systems like this in place, and dedicated individuals serving as tissue navigators at each regional site, these precious donations are not be possible.
Intrinsic and Acquired Glucocorticoid Resistance in T-cell ALL
University of California, San Francisco – In Partnership with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation
$195,000 over two years.
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common form of childhood cancer. Thanks to decades of scientific research, most children diagnosed with ALL in 2020 are curable. However, children who suffer recurrent leukemia after an initial response to therapy become very difficult to treat, and many do not survive in the long-term.
Anya Levinson, a clinical fellow in pediatrics at University of California, San Francisco, studies the role of “glucocorticoids” (a type of steroid) in the treatment of T-cell ALL. Though glucocorticoids are usually very effective at killing leukemia cells, some patients are found to be resistant to glucocorticoids, making their disease more difficult to treat.
Levinson’s research is focused on understanding how and why such resistance develops in order to identify ways to overcome it and, ultimately, increase survivorship for children with T-cell ALL by preventing and/or successfully treating relapse. Levinson is focused on two emerging glucocorticoid resistance mechanisms called JDP2 and STAT5B.
The overarching goal of Levinson’s research project is to further characterize the molecular mechanisms in these pathways to identify therapeutic agents to mitigate glucocorticoid resistance. Specifically, to 1) determine the molecular basis of JDP2-induced glucocorticoid resistance and test for ways to overcome it, and 2) determine whether ruxolitinib or the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax can overcome GC resistance conferred by the expression of mutant alleles of components of the IL7R/JAK/STAT pathway.
Dr. Levinson was kind enough to explain more about her research to TLC founder, Cindy Campbell. You can read their Q & A here.
Dr. Levinson’s Stewardship Report can be found here.
This research is funded in part by the Westlake Wildcats “Spirit Day” initiatives in loving memory of Danny Mcmanus. Danny was a courageous young athlete from Armonk, NY, who passed away from relapsed Leukemia at the age of 12.
Combination anti-CD47 Immunotherapy
Stanford University School of Medicine and Huntsman Research Institute, Salt Lake City
The Ty Louis Campbell Foundation partnered with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and awarded funding for a three-year pre-clinical research project to Dr. Samuel Cheshier, Stanford University, totaling $330,000, with additional seed money ($15,000) provided to help kick off a phase 1 clinical trial after the pre-clinical results proved so promising. The clinical trial is open for enrollment (PNOC025).
Dr. Cheshier’s work utilizes combinations of immune therapies to target malignant pediatric brain tumors. These treatments allow the immune system cells called macrophages to specifically target and “eat” the cancer cells while leaving normal tissues unharmed. The research goal is to develop these treatments in order to replace chemotherapy and irradiation, which are less specific to the cancer and more harmful to the patients than his proposed immune therapies.
The study focuses on combination therapies using antibodies called anti-CD47 and anti-CD40. When utilized in combination in mouse models, there was significant synergistic effect when compared to utilizing either agent alone.
A recent report on this great work was published in Cureus, October 2020. In March 2017, results were reported in various medical journals. Read more. A report was also published in the Wiley Online Library (April 2016) citing some of the resulting work from this study pertaining to glioblastoma. Read more.
Leptomential Dissemination in Rare Pediatric Brain Tumors
Children’s Brain Tumor Project, Weill Cornell Medicine
A much-anticipated article led by Children’s Brain Tumor Project (CBTP) postdoctoral fellows Carolina Cocito and Brice Martin, Principal Investigators Dr. Nadia Dahmane, Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield, and Dr. Mark Souweidane, in collaboration with partners at New-York Presbyterian/ Columbia University, was recently published in the April special issue on pediatric brain tumors of Neoplasia.
The paper, “Leptomeningeal Dissemination in Pediatric Brain Tumors,” explores the nature of leptomeningeal dissemination (LMD) across various rare pediatric brain tumor types. Leptomeningeal metastasis, or leptomeningeal dissemination (LMD), is the presence of cancer cells along the meninges, which are the thin layers of tissue that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord. LMD in pediatric brain cancer patients is a poorly understood phenomenon that is inadequately categorized. Incidence rates, as well as prognosis, treatment, and screening practices, vary greatly depending on the primary tumor pathology. Although LMD is encountered most frequently in patients with medulloblastoma, reports of LMD have been described across a wide variety of pediatric brain tumor pathologies, which the paper addresses in detail.
Leptomeningeal metastasis may be present at the time a primary tumor is diagnosed, at the time of recurrence, or as primary LMD without the presence of a primary lesion. The presence of LMD poses a great challenge in the treatment of almost every brain tumor type in children. Tumor cells in the cerebral spinal fluid develop select environmental advantages to survive the harsh, nutrient poor and turbulent environment of the CSF and leptomeninges, meaning the surviving tumor cells in the resulting LMD are treatment resistant and more difficult to address. This review comprehensively examines the state of LMD in all pediatric brain tumors including medulloblastoma, craniopharyngioma, Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors (ATRT), choroid plexus tumors, diffuse midline glioma (DMG), ependymoma, germ cell tumors, and diffuse leptomeningeal glioneuronal tumors with an emphasis on incidence, clinical presentation, and therapeutic management with the goal of providing novel insights into this therapeutically challenging disease.
This review also highlighted how the crucial need for additional studies to better understand the mechanisms underlying LMD in all pediatric brain tumors along with improved diagnostic and treatment approaches, will help to improve the prognosis of children affected by primary brain tumors.
Checkpoint Inhibitors – Phase 2 International Clinical Trial
Multiple Centers (originally led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
What began as a proposal for a clinical trial in four centers, has expanded into a worldwide clinical trial.
In 2016, the TLC Foundation, in collaboration with like-minded nonprofits A Kids’ Brain Tumor Cure and Solving Kids’ Cancer, provided the seed money for a phase 1 clinical trial for children with brain tumors using combination immunotherapy that targets controlling factors in the body’s immune system called checkpoints for a total investment of $185,000.
What began as a proposal for a four center US-based clinical trial of a promising combination therapy for children battling brain tumors, quickly expanded into a large-scale phase 2 clinical trial at 58 centers in 13 countries, bringing new hope to children across the globe who have run out of treatment options.
This collaborative funding model and potential impact of the new therapy attracted the attention of pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers-Squibb, and led to a major expansion of the project into the International Phase 2 clinical trial that just completed enrollment in 2019, and is now in the process of analyzing the data with the goal of presenting the findings before the end of the year.
Checkpoint inhibitors are therapeutic antibodies that block the inhibitory receptor signaling and restore the capacity of T-cells to kill cancer. The trial targeted two types of checkpoint receptors – (PD1 and CTLA4) using a combination of antibodies that targeted the immune system rather than the cancer itself. Checkpoint combination therapy has been the most exciting breakthrough in cancer research this decade. Adults with previously untreatable cancers like metastatic melanoma and lung cancer have been cured in clinical trials.
Had it not been for these three nonprofits trusting in this idea, this clinical trial may have never come to fruition. By working together, nonprofits and medical institutions can move the needle forward faster. An update report from January 2019 can be found here. Information on the trial can also be found at clinicaltrials.gov.
Collaborative Research Funding for Relapsed and Refractory Pediatric Brain Tumors offers Hope
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (with 11 additional treatment sites)
After co-funding a highly successful international clinical trial that opened for international enrollment in 2017, A Kids’ Brain Tumor Cure Foundation, Solving Kids’ Cancer and the Ty Louis Campbell (TLC) Foundation have teamed up again to announce their joint financial support of a Phase 1 clinical trial that will test the safety and efficacy of a new immunotherapy produced by Apexigen to treat of children with brain tumors.
The study will test safety and efficacy of a promising new agent, APX-005M CD40, against antibodies in children with brain tumors. This first-in-class immunotherapy has the potential for significant efficacy in children with recurrent or refractory tumors in the central nervous system, and it is a new therapy option for children with newly diagnosed Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a type of brain cancer that is 100% terminal upon diagnosis. It has been rolled out via the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC), a collective group of multidisciplinary research organizations, which allows more children access to this promising new treatment option in twelve reputable institutions across the country.
This is the second immunotherapy trial being funded by these three like-minded nonprofits as a result of their mutual support of primary investigator, Dr. Ira Dunkel, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and their confidence in multi-faceted collaborative efforts as a progressive way forward. The clinical trial is currently open for enrollment, and more information can be found here on clinicaltrials.gov.
“Collaboration is the driving force behind making progress in research, faster,” said Dr. Ira Dunkel, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “Similar to the efforts of nonprofit organizations that have been partnering for years to increase their impact, a team of researchers founded the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium in 1999 to advance progress through multi-center, multidisciplinary, innovative studies with designs and analyses based on its shared high standard of statistical science.”
Dr. Dunkel’s most recently shared that trial accrual is going well and taking place in a timely fashion, hoping to complete the non-DIPG accruals by mid-2019 (which can often be a challenge in other pediatric brain tumor trials). The dosing levels have been increased three times, and it is predicted that the DIPG arm will start based on the dose findings from the non-DIPG participants.
Collectively, these three like-minded nonprofits made a contribution of $120,000 to help make this trial available to children battling brain tumors, today. It is currently open for enrollment, providing a viable option with far less toxicity than chemotherapy to children in need of alternative options.
Modified Measles Virus (MV-NIS) for Children and Young Adults With Recurrent Medulloblastoma or Recurrent ATRT
University of San Francisco
Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are promising therapeutic tools for solid tumors due to their many biological advantages compared to traditional approaches including: (1) the selective replication of the OVs in cancer cells without affecting normal cells; (2) the lack of resistance mechanism by the targeted cells and (3) the capacity of the OV to spread throughout the tumor once a few cells have been infected (4) the capacity to trigger an immune response against the tumors. These protocols represent a potential therapy for several tumors, including rare pediatric brain tumors, due to their capacity to target cancer stem cells (CSC) which are, in theory, the cells responsible for tumor growth.
Dr. Sabine Mueller kicked off a phase 1 clinical trial using the measles virus (MV-NIS) and after seeing promise in the pre-clinical findings, the Ty Louis Campbell Foundation provided additional funding to support her continued research on this particular trial, and we hope to see enrollment expand over the next year or so. Enrollment remains ongoing, therefore results have yet to be published. Information about the ongoing clinical trial can be found at clinicaltrials.gov.
View the most recent update provided by our co-funding partners at Solving Kids’ Cancer here: TLC Project MVNIS Update Jan 2019 (2).
Patient Specific Organotypic Tumor Platform for Treatment Selection in Embryonic Tumors – HR Medulloblastoma, AT/RT, ETMR
Columbia University Medical Center
In collaboration with several like-minded nonprofits, the Ty Louis Campbell Foundation is supporting the work of Dr. Stergios Zacharoulis as he researches the unique molecular fingerprints of embryonal tumors found in pediatric patients, including medulloblastoma, AT/RT and ETMR. These research advancements may lay the foundation for developing new treatment protocols for high risk pediatric brain tumors.
Organotypic cultures, or “slices,” represent an in vitro model that simulates the in vivo situation very well. In other words, scientists can study the organotypic tumor tissue in the same way they might study tumor behavior in an avatar (mouse) model, but the process is much faster. Dr. Zacharoulis is using high quality slices of pediatric brain tumor tissue to assess the potential of novel substances that may be effective in killing tumor tissue, in addition to better understanding the biological behavior of the tumor cells. For embryonal tumors, including rare sub-types of medulloblastoma, AT/RT and ETMR, there is a tremendous need for increased tumor analysis to better understand what his happening at the molecular level.
This study could become a valuable tool in guiding clinical trial enrollment to maximize the chances of clinical response for pediatric brain tumor patients.
Targeting Proteins CDK 7, 12, 13 against Ewing Sarcoma
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Ewing sarcoma is a bone cancer that is most frequently found in children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 20 years old. Tumors often originate in the long, large bones of the body, including the hip, thigh, shin, chest, and arm bones.
Besides originating from the bone, sometimes this tumor can form just outside the bone in the soft tissue. The cancer can also metastasize to other sites including the lungs, other bones or soft tissue areas, and bone marrow, making the disease more difficult to treat and resulting in significantly lower survival rates.
At the Ty Louis Campbell Foundation, we support the groundbreaking work of Dr. Kimberly Stegmaier at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to help find a cure for this disease. In 2016, TLC first provided financial support to help bring new targeted therapies to patients battling Ewing Sarcoma, and we have since designated her lab as the beneficiary of our fundraising events in Massachusetts to honor a local survivor of Ewing Sarcoma named Carly (the annual “Rockin’ for a Reason” concert, in particular).
Dr. Stegmaier’s team has identified a new drug class that is highly active in Ewing sarcoma cells, targeting proteins called CDK 7, 12, and 13. These proteins are important in the expression of genes in the cell and also in the control of DNA damage. To learn more about how the team intends to bring these breakthroughs to clinic, click here.
In December 2019, a team of students toured the lab with Dr. Stegmaier, and presented her with another $5,000 to support the continuation of her progressive work in both Ewing Sarcoma and Neuroblastoma. The funding resulted from the 2018 and 2019 “Rockin’ for a Reason” concerts in Upton, MA.
Convection-Enhanced Delivery for DIPG
Weill Cornell Medicine
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is one of the deadliest central nervous system tumors of childhood, with a median overall survival of less than 12 months. Convection-enhanced delivery has been proposed as a means to efficiently deliver therapeutic agents directly into the brainstem while minimizing systemic exposure and associated toxic effects. We did this study to evaluate the safety of convection-enhanced delivery of a radioimmunotherapy agent targeting the glioma-associated B7-H3 antigen in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
TLC has been supporting the efforts of Dr. Mark Souweidane since 2018 to expand on his existing Phase 1 trial, which has been referred to as groundbreaking by the Lancet Oncology. The peer-reviewed publication in the Lancet validates a career-long hypothesis that Dr. Souweidane put forth more than 20 years ago, and was only made possible by the families who entrusted their children in his care by enrolling in the trial, and the donors who have provided the financial support to enable this research (read his inspiring blog here).
The results are so promising, they are expected to eventually change the landscape of future pediatric brain tumor protocols.
View the most recent related article accrediting the TLC Foundation here.
International Rhabdoid Conference 2018
Lake Louise, Alberta Canada.
The TLC Foundation made a unique investment by supporting the 2018 International Rhabdoid Tumor Meeting in Lake Louise. Eighty-eight scientists from around the world gathered for a 2-day conference on rhabdoid tumors, with most of the focus being on Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors (AT/RT). AT/RT is a rare pediatric brain tumor that claimed the life of Ty Louis Campbell, and that has been widely neglected by the research community until now.
There is a common phrase, “you don’t know what you don’t know” that certainly rings true in the research community. Information sharing is imperative to advancing research. This “meeting of the minds” was a tremendous accomplishment for advancing discoveries in ATRT. The collaborative group worked together to develop a classification system for ATRT’s that can be used in all clinical trials, and TLC was in attendance to see the breakthrough results presented from the anti-CD47 research we also supported.
Collaborative Advocacy Initiative Addressing Medulloblastoma, ETMR and AT/RT
In Partnership with Solving Kids’ Cancer
Our partners at Solving Kids’ Cancer have long been advocating to influence clinical trial design. With the support of TLC, they have launched a strategic initiative that will help identify the projects that can be added to frontline treatments quickly and effectively through the creation of small pilot studies intended to produce actionable data. By securing partners in collaborative groups and consortiums, the initiative is addressing the issue that there are currently too many possibilities for too few patients. In support of this initiatives, TLC is part of the conversation among a core group of top investigators across the country who are engaged in the design and implementation of this innovative strategy.