Recent Projects Funded
2023 Projects Funded
CDK12 links radiation response to PARPi sensitivity in glioma
Nathan Dahl
Combinatorial targeting of transcriptional processivity in DIPG
Nathan Dahl
Pilot of Cell-Free DNA Testing in a National Pediatric HGG Trial
Adam Green
Single cell CiteSeq proteomic characterization of ependymoma infiltrating immune cells
Nicholas Foreman, Andrew Donson
Developing Models and Comparative Oncology Data for Canine and Pediatric High-Grade Gliomas
Adam Green, Steven Dow
Pilot Investigation to Characterize the Response of ACP Culture Models to Hypoxia
Todd Hankinson
Chromosome 1q and 6q changes as drivers of ependymoma recurrence
Nicholas Foreman, Andrew Donson
Spatial transcriptomic analysis of childhood brain tumor medulloblastoma
Nicholas Foreman, Andrew Donson
NF1-associated plexiform neurofibromas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors: addressing MPNST tumor heterogeneity to identify novel therapy options
Nicholas Foreman
Omics “in the round”
Nicholas Foreman
Development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor expressing macrophages to target pediatric brain tumors
Siddhartha Mitra, Sujatha Venkataraman, Eric Kohler
Evaluation of frozen apheresis products for tumor cell contamination
Jean M. Mulcahy Levy, Anan Nellan, Siddhartha Mitra
Identify high affinity EFNA1 variants for immunotherapy against DIPG tumors that harbors wildtype histone H3
Sujatha Venkataraman, Siddhartha Mitra, Krishna Madhavan, Kristofer Fritz
Novel CAR-T cell therapies to circumvent the highly immunosuppressive ependymoma tumor microenvironment
Sujatha Venkataraman, Andrew Donson, Anandani Nellan, Andrea Griesinger, Nicholas Foreman
Continuing Investigation of Childhood Cancer Early Death and Its Potential Causes
Adam Green
Counterfactual Explanations of AI Predictions with Uncertainty to Improve Non-Invasive Diagnostic Accuracy of Pediatric Suprasellar Tumors
Todd Hankinson, Carsten Görg
Characterization of Cancer-associated Fibroblasts derived from Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma
Todd Hankinson
Piloting Key Correlative Studies in a National Pediatric HGG Trial
Adam Green
Spatial Transcriptomics in Pediatric High-Grade Glioma
Adam Green
Integrating single cell RNA sequencing with Visium data to identify the radiation resistance population of cells in DIPG tumors
Andrew Donson, Sujatha Venkataraman
IDH1 as a regulator of radiation resistance in Medulloblastoma
Bethany Veo, Rajeev Vibhakar
Regulation of Wnt by CDK11 in Myc medulloblastoma
Dong Wang, Rajeev Vibhakar
PARP inhibition in ATRT and Medulloblastoma
Irina Alimova, Breaunna Brunt, Rajeev Vibhakar
Single Nuclei Multiomics to identify mechanisms of oncogenesis in ATRT
Rajeev Vibhakar
Combinatorial targeting of CDK7 and antimetabolites for ATRT
Jean Mulcahy Levy
BioInformatics
Rajeev Vibhakar
Targeting an Oncogenic Driver in Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Bedside to Bench Correlative Studies
Kelly Faulk, Patricia Ernst
Translating discoveries from brain tumor genomics into new therapeutic strategies
David Solomon
Determining selinexor/radiation markers of response and combination therapy in diffuse midline glioma
DIPG DMG Research Funding Alliance Round 1 Grant Funding
Adam Green
Targeting circadian regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and tumor invasiveness in pediatric gliomas
DIPG DMG Research Funding Alliance Round 1 Grant Funding
Erin Gibson
2022 Projects Funded
Omics “in the round”
Nicholas Foreman
Bioinformatic analysis
Nicholas Foreman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Preclinical in-vivo testing of experimental therapeutics in ependymoma
Nicholas Foreman
Development of humanized immune system PDX model for evaluating the tumor-immune interaction in pediatric brain tumors
Nicholas Foreman, Andrea Griesinger
NF1-associated plexiform neurofibromas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors: spatial transcriptomics to determine methods disease progression and transformation
Nicholas Foreman
Identification and validation of novel targets identified from the CRISPR druggable target screening in both H3K27M and WT histone-DIPG
Sujatha Venkataraman, Adam Green, Rajeev Vibhakar
Targeting Radiation Resistance in medulloblastoma
Bethany Veo, Rajeev Vibhakar
Synthesis and testing of humanized CD99 antibody with the novel 10D1 clone sequence in DIPG
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Pre-clinical testing of novel gene-edited CAR-T cell therapy targeting pediatric tumors, DIPG, and Ewing Sarcoma
Sujatha Venkataraman
Analysis of stem cell and immune cell populations in pediatric high-grade glioma
Adam Green
Demonstrate the Impact of MMP-9 Knockdown in 3 Novel Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma (ACP) Models
Todd Hankinson
Multiplex Immunofluoresence spatial distribution in Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma (ACP)
Todd Hankinson
Mechanisms of BMI1 regulation in ATRT
Irina Alimova, Rajeev Vibhakar
Evaluation of autophagy inhibition clinical trial samples to assess biologic markers of response
Jean Mulcahy-Levy, Masanori Hayashi
Expanded application of zotiraciclib to pediatric brain tumors
Nathan Dahl
Development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor expressing macrophages to target pediatric brain tumors
Siddhartha Mitra, Sujatha Venkataraman, Mark Eric Kohler
Preclinical testing of the small molecule inhibitors Navitoclax, and Binimetinib using ex vivo Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma Tissue
Todd Hankinson
Combining radiation therapy with PRMT5 inhibition in diffuse midline glioma
Adam Green
CDK8 as a regulator of Myc driven Medulloblastoma
Dong Wang, Rajeev Vibhakar
Neurocognitive Function in the Pediatric Hematology, Oncology Population
Claire Fraley
Prospective Investigation of Childhood Cancer Early Death & Its Potential Causes
Adam Green
Development of a public web-based tool to refine interpretable AI tools in pediatric neuro-oncology
Todd Hankinson
Functional screening of pediatric high-grade glioma and radiation-induced glioma patient-derived models
Sujatha Venkataraman, Adam Green
Translating discoveries from brain tumor genomics into new therapeutic strategies
David A. Solomon
Identifying novel targets for MYC amplified Osteosarcoma
Masanori Hayashi
Utilization of Single Cell Analysis Tools to Identify Targetable Phenotypes for Pediatric AML
Amanda Winters
Myeloid Cell Phenotype in the Setting of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy
Hannah Lust
Inhibition of multi-functional BETs in relapsed and metastatic osteosarcoma
Pankita H. Pandya
2021 Projects Funded
RNASeq “in the round”
Nicholas Foreman
Development of humanized immune system PDX model for evaluating the tumor-immune interaction in pediatric brain tumors
Nicholas Foreman, Andrea Griesinger
Single-nuclei RNA-seq characterization of the tumor microenvironment in NF1-associated plexiform neurofibroma and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors
Nicholas Foreman
Targeting BMI1 in ATRT
Rajeev Vibhakar
Targeting H3K27M-mutant DIPG tumors with novel CAR T cell therapy
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
To investigate the biological effects of radiation and the signaling pathways that promotes radio-resistance of DIPG
Sujatha Venkataraman, Nathan Dahl, Rajeev Vibhakar
Radiation-induced transcriptional adaptation in pediatric high-grade glioma
Nathan Dahl
Understanding the oncogenic role of BMI1 in ependymoma (EPN) PFA tumors at the single-cell transcriptional level
Sujatha Venkataraman, Andrew Donson, Nicholas Foreman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Rational approach to combined targeting of two major transcriptional regulators, EZH2 and CDK9 in MYC-medulloblastoma
Rajeev Vibhakar, Krishna Madhavan
Investigate the molecular pathways regulated by the oncogenic MIC2 in driving H3K27M-DIPG tumorigenesis
Sujatha Venkataraman, Adam Green, Ilango Balakrishnan
Epigenetic Mechanisms of Aurora Kinase Inhibition as a Rational Target in H3K27M-Mutant Diffuse Midline Glioma
Adam Green
Investigation of Components of Potential DIPG and High-Grade Glioma Combination Therapy Trials
Adam Green
Development of CD44 variant 6 targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT)
Siddhartha Mitra, Anandani Nellan
Development of In Utero driven Mouse Models of Diffused Midline Gliomas to Study the tumor immune interactions in Pediatric Midline Gliomas
Siddhartha Mitra, Santos Franco, Adam Green
Development of Novel Therapies for Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors
Jean M. Mulcahy-Levy
Low-grade glioma immune characterization
Jean M. Mulcahy-Levy, Shadi Zahedi
Advancing Characterization of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in ACP through Phospo-kinase Analysis
Todd Hankinson
Preclinical testing of the Immunotherapeutics Nivolumab, Bevacizumab, and Adecatumumab using ex vivo Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma Tissue
Todd Hankinson
Intelligent System Design for Interpretable Deep Learning Modeling of Rare Pediatric Brain Tumors from a Multi-disciplinary Perspective
Todd Hankinson
Neurocognitive Function in the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Population
Claire Fraley
Development of humanized immune system PDX model for evaluating the tumor-immune interaction in pediatric brain tumors
Nicholas Foreman
Targeting Mechanisms of Relapse upon CAR-T Failure in MLLr Leukemia
Patricia Ernst, Terry Fry
Use of ddPCR for Residual Disease Detection (including Post-Transplant) in Pediatric AML
Amanda Winters
Development of Novel Chimeric Antigen Receptors to Target Antigen-Low Pediatric Leukemia
Mark Eric Kohler
Biomimetic Microenvironments to Model Leptomeningeal Metastasis in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (Year 3)
Rachael Sirianni
Translating discoveries from brain tumor genomics into new therapeutic strategies
David A. Solomon
2020 Projects Funded
RNASeq “in the round”
Nick Foreman
Creation of a single-cell atlas of pediatric brain tumors (year 2 of 2)
Nick Foreman
Pre-Clinical modeling of drug efficacy in pediatric brain tumors
Rajeev Vibhakar
High-throughput drug screening in pediatric brain tumors for rapid clinical translation
Nicholas Foreman
Rational approach to combined targeting of two major transcriptional regulators, EZH2 and CDK9 in MYC-medulloblastoma
Rajeev Vibhakar
Investigate the molecular pathways regulated by the oncogenic MIC2 in driving H3K27M-DIPG tumorigenesis
Sujatha Venkataraman
Developing a Clinically Translatable Interpretable 3D Radiographic and Transcriptomic Joint Domain Deep Learning Framework for Limited Datasets Using Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma as an Example
Todd Hankinson
PRMT5 Inhibition in Pediatric High-Grade Glioma
Adam Green
Development of Novel Therapies for Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors
Jean M. Mulcahy Levy
Development of CAR T cells to target ependymoma and the tumor microenvironment
Anandani Nellan, Nicholas Foreman
Understanding the oncogenic role of BMI1 in ependymoma (EPN) PFA tumors at the single-cell transcriptional level
Sujatha Venkataraman, Andrew Donson, Nicholas Foreman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Development of Human Immune System Mouse Models of ATRTs
Siddhartha S. Mitra
Targeting Hes5 in Embryonal tumors with multilayered rosettes (ETMR)
Sujatha Venkataraman, Andrew Donson
EMT in Craniopharyngioma
Todd Hankinson
Investigation Toward a DIPG Combination Therapy Clinical Trial
Adam Green
Targeting BMI1 in AT/RT
Rajeev Vibhakar
Combinatorial Immunotherapy against High-Risk Medulloblastoma
Siddhartha S. Mitra
Tumor microenvironment (TME) Modifying Immunotherapy Combined with Tumor Neurosphere Vaccine for Pediatric High-Grade Glioma
Anandani Nellan, Adam Green, Steven Dow
Biomimetic Microenvironments to Model Leptomeningeal Metastasis in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
Rachael Sirianni
Evaluating the Mechanism and Efficacy of Targeting the Replication Stress Pathway in Pediatric Osteosarcomas
Pankita H. Pandya
2019 Projects Funded
RNASeq “in the round”: Extension of tumor characterization to include mutational and fusion data on all new patients
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Rajeev Vibhakar
Researchers will use RNA sequencing to analyze new tumors, as well as tumor samples from the last 30 years. This project will extend the analysis to identifying whether tumors result from gene mutations or fusions of existing genes. This improved characterization of tumor samples provides additional information to help determine the best treatment for each tumor.
Creation of a single-cell atlas of pediatric brain tumors
Andrew Donson, Nicholas Foreman, Todd Hankinson, Rajeev Vibhakar
High-throughput drug screening in pediatric brain tumors for rapid clinical translation
Nicholas Foreman, Katie Dorris, Andrew Donson
Pre-Clinical Modeling of drug efficacy in Pediatric Brain Tumors
Angela Pierce, Rajeev Vibhakar
High-Throughput Next Generation Sequencing and Analysis of CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated Gene Knockout Screen and Validation of Targets identified in Pediatric Brian Tumor
Sujatha Venakataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Targeting NTRK fusions in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)
Rajeev Vibhakar, Lindsey Hoffman, Nathan Dahl
Investigation of Pediatric Treatment-Induced High-Grade Gliomas
Adam Green
Novel targeting of CD99, a cell surface protein in H3K27M-mutant DIPG
Sujatha Venkataraman, Adam Green, Siddhartha S. Mitra, Terry Fry, Rajeev Vibhakar
Using a CRISPR screen to identify genes that regulate immune surveillance by microglia and macrophages
Siddhartha S. Mitra
In vivo model targeting BMI1 in ATRT
Irina Alimova, Angela Pierce, Rajeev Vibhakar
Targeting BMI1 in neuroblastoma tumors
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Understanding the oncogenic role of CDK7 and CDK12, the crucial targets identified from the shRNA screening in medulloblastoma
Bethany Veo, Rajeev Vibhakar
Analysis the Epigenome to identify novel resistance mechanisms to targeted BRAF inhibition
Jean Mulcahy Levy, Rajeev Vibhakar
Can ATR kinase inhibitors sensitize medulloblastoma tumor cells to radiation and chemotherapy treatments?
Rajeev Vibhakar
Predictive Diagnosis and Genomics of Pediatric Neurological Tumors via Convolutional Neural Networks
Todd C. Hankinson
Multiple-Biopsy of Infiltrative Glioma (M-BIG) Study
Nathan Dahl, Lindsey Hoffman, Adam Green
Development of a novel extracellular PRAME antibody to target atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor
Anandani Nellan, Andrew Donson
Establishing DIPG xenograft models and advancing therapeutic strategy in DIPG
Sujatha Venkataraman, Siddhartha S. Mitra
In vivo animal model to investigate nanoparticle-mediated brain drug delivery
Krishna Madhavan, Rajeev Vibhakar
Development of Models of Recurrent Pediatric High-Grade Glioma
Adam Green
Study looking at feasibility of isolating circulating tumor DNA from blood, cerebrospinal fluid and urine in Pediatric Solid Tumor patients
Nicholas Foreman, Masanori Hayashi
Biomimetic Microenvironments to Model Leptomeningeal Metastasis in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
Rachael Sirianni
2018 Projects Funded
The RNASeq transition: Creation of a pediatric brain tumor RNAseq reference database (year 2 of 2)
Andrew Donson, Nick Foreman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Chipping “in the round.” Extension of tumor characterization to include mutational and fusion data on all new patients
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Rajeev Vibhakar
High throughput next-gen sequencing and analysis of CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene knockout system
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Pre-clinical modeling of drug efficacy in pediatric brain tumors
Angela Pierce, Rajeev Vibhakar
High-throughput drug screening in pediatric brain tumors for rapid clinical translation
Andrew Donson, Nick Foreman, Katie Dorris
Disease progression model for H3K27M-mutant DIPG: Determining downstream effects of effective treatment
Sujatha Venkataraman, Adam Green
The oncogenic role of the SEC in H3K27M-mutant DIPG
Nathan Dahl, Rajeev Vibhakar
Use of pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to model DIPG cell formation and radio-resistance
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
2017 Projects Funded
Chipping “in the round.” Extension of tumor characterization to include mutational and fusion data on all new patients
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Rajeev Vibhakar
The RNASeq Transition: Creation of a pediatric brain tumor RNAseq reference database (year 2 of 2)
Andrew Donson, Nick Foreman, Rajeev Vibhakar
In vivo animal model to investigate nanoparticle-mediated brain drug delivery (year 3 of 3)
Rajeev Vibhakar, Krishna Madhavan
Pre-Clinical modeling of drug efficacy in pediatric brain tumors
Angela Pierce, Rajeev Vibhakar
High-throughput drug screening in pediatric brain tumors for rapid clinical translation
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Katie Dorris
Disease progression model for H3K27M-mutant DIPG: Determining Downstream Effects for Effective Treatment
Adam Green, Sujatha Venkataraman
The oncogenic role of the SEC in H3K27M-mutant DIPG
Nathan Dahl, Rajeev Vibhakar
High throughput NexGen Sequencing and Analysis of CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated Gene Knockout System
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Analysis of paired BRAF v600e mutant glioma patient samples to identify novel resistance mechanisms to targeted BRAF inhibition
Jean Mulcahy-Levy, Theodore Nicolaides
Use of human-induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs) to model DIPG tumorigenesis and radio-resistance
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Oncogenesis caused by loss of SMARCB1 tumor suppressor is dependent on the activity of SIRT2
Rajeev Vibhakar
To establish a new genome-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 as a means to generate pediatric brain tumor models carrying deletion or insertion of genes in a highly efficient manner
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
2016 Projects Funded
Chipping “in the round.” Extension of tumor characterization to include mutational and epigenetic profiling as well as mRNA expression (classical “chipping”)
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Rajeev Vibhakar
The RNASeq Transition: Creation of a pediatric brain tumor RNAseq reference database (year 1 of 2)
Andrew Donson, Nick Foreman, Rajeev Vibhakar
In vivo animal model to investigate nanoparticle-mediated brain drug delivery (year 2 of 3)
Rajeev Vibhakar, Krishna Madhavan
To Establish a new genome-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 as a means to generate pediatric brain tumor models carrying deletion or insertion of genes in a highly efficient manner
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Developing CAR T-Cell therapy for Pediatric Brain Tumors
Nicholas Foreman, Anadani Nellan
Cancer Stem Cell Influences in the setting of BRAF Mutations
Jean Mulcahy-Levy
Pre-Clinical Trial of Anti-Inflammatory Monoclonal Antibodies in a Mouse Model of Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma
Todd Hankinson, JP Barbera
Transcriptome Analysis of Recurrent Pediatric High Grade Gliomas
Adam Green
To investigate whether PTC-209, a small-molecule inhibitor of BMI-1, can potentiate DIPG cell killing by radiation: in-vitro and in-vivo study
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
2015 Projects Funded
Chipping “in the round.” Extension of tumor characterization to include mutational and epigenetic profiling as well as mRNA expression (classical “chipping”), RNAseq, and whole genome DNA sequencing
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Rajeev Vibhakar
Genetic and single cell profiling of high-risk pediatric leukemia
C. Porter
Proving novel agents predicted by biology to be effective would be predicted be so when tested against tumor cells in FDA approved medication panels.
Nick Foreman, Andrew Donson, Rajeev Vibhakar
Investigating BMI1 as a therapeutic Target in DIPG
Rajeev Vibhakar, Sujatha Venkataraman
Targeting Acquired Drug Resistance with Autophagy Inhibition
Jean Mulcahy-Levy
Targeting MTOR in Diffuse Pontine Glioma
Adam Green, Rajeev Vibhakar
Verification of Therapeutic Targets and Assessment of Tumor Heterogeneity using Microdissection and Next Generataion Sequencing in Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma
Todd Hankinson
Role of the WDR5-MLL2 complex in MYC Driven Medulloblastoma
Sujatha Venkataraman, Rajeev Vibhakar
Developing a mouse model of EZH2 overexpression
Ismail Sola, Rajeev Vibhakar
Developing nano-particles for brain tumor therapy
Krishna Madhavan, Rajeev Vibhakar
Genomic Studies and Drug Susceptibility of Radiation-Induced Glioblastoma
Adam Green, Rajeev Vibhakar, Andrew Donson, Nick Foreman
The Role of BRAF mutations in clinical outcomes in pediatric low grade spinal cord tumors
Jean Mulcahy-Levy
Pilot study of IL-6 mediated inflammation in the cystic compnent of Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma
Andrew Donson, Todd Hankinson
1st International Symposium on Pediatric Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma
Todd Hankinson
