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Weill Cornell Medical College

New York, NY 10065
United States

Mentor: Dr. David Lyden

Mentor: Dr. Mark Souweidane

Background

Background

Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG) are aggressive, inoperable brain tumors that affect children. Life expectancy from a DIPG diagnosis is less than 1 year, even with intervention. There are no known survivors of DIPG. DIPG differ from other pediatric cancers because DIPG do not respond to chemotherapy. The blood brain barrier (BBB) insulates DIPG from chemotherapeutic treatment.

Background

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor and, unfortunately, nearly one-third of affected children ultimately die of the disease despite aggressive therapy. High-risk medulloblastoma and recurrent tumors portend an even poorer prognosis. To improve patient outcomes, our primary goal is to improve methods to noninvasively detect tumor progression or relapse at early stages that will likely offer therapeutic opportunities or alter treatment strategies.

Background

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a fatal childhood cancer with very poor prognosis. Currently, no cure or effective treatment is available. One of the main problems with treating such an invasive tumor involves poor drug delivery to the brain, as most therapeutics cannot cross the tightly regulated blood-brain barrier.

Background

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