Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Background: The Stanford University School of Medicine, in partnership with the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, has a reputation as one of the premier pediatric cancer research centers in the U.S. To date, our efforts have primarily focused on conducting research and participating in cooperative group and consortium clinical trials. With the recent recruitment of Drs.

Background

Toxicity and resistance to chemotherapy drugs remain major hurdles in oncology. My proposal is focused on using an emerging genetic strategy called "haploid genetic screening" to discover genes that mediate resistance to topoisomerase inhibitors, chemotherapeutics which form the backbone of treatment for several cancers.

Traditional approach targeting only genetic factors and non-cancer stem cells for drug discovery appears insufficient to combat cancer diseases especially in the category of childhood leukemia caused by MLL gene mutation which occurs frequently in infants and children and associates with poor survival rate. It is becoming clear that cancer cells transformation is initiated and maintained by both genetic and epigenetic mechanisms.

“As a young faculty, there are not too many opportunities for external funding where people trust you with a new ambitious project.”

Project Background