Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Announces Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Grant Recipients

POST grant supports research of 55 undergraduate, graduate & medical student projects

In an effort to fund childhood cancer researchers at critical, early stages in their careers, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) has announced the awarding of 55 new Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) program grants to undergraduate, graduate and medical students across the country. The grants provide students who’ve shown an interest in pediatric oncology with the opportunity to train under a research mentor for the summer. The mentors, who are top researchers in the pediatric oncology field, provide students with hands-on experience in the lab, encouraging them to pursue careers in the field.

The students receiving grants will work with their mentors at 29 different institutions across the country. ALSF has continued to increase the number of students receiving the POST Program grant, offering grants to 55 students this year. Each student is awarded $5,000, dedicating at least eight full weeks to the program, either joining a research project underway in a mentor’s lab or beginning an original investigation. A list of the students receiving grants, their institutions and the title of their projects is included on the following page.

Introduced in 2011, the POST Program was created with four goals in mind: exposure to the field of pediatric oncology, development of practical research skills, experience in a real-time research project and development of a mentoring relationship with a pediatric oncology researcher. The Foundation’s primary focus is to find better treatments and ultimately cures for all kids with cancer. Recognizing the importance of young researchers in achieving this goal, ALSF aims to foster the interest in young, promising students through the POST program grants.

“ALSF has always believed in the power of young people to make a difference in the lives of others,” said Jay Scott, Co-Executive Director of ALSF. “The POST Program grant is simply an extension of this belief, showing college, medical and graduate students their power to change the course of childhood cancer treatments and cures. These students hold the key to future research breakthroughs and we are honored to support them.”

In addition to the POST Program grants, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation funds several other grant categories to researchers on the front lines of the childhood cancer fight. For more information, visit: www.ALSFgrants.org.

2017 Funded POST Program Grant Recipients

Students’ home institutions are listed in parentheses.

Several student grants are generously supported by the Northwestern Mutual and Love Your Melon, as noted.

 

Pranitha Chekka (Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Exploiting the Context-dependent Interaction of Notch1 and Ets1 in T-ALL

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Kyle Garland (Vanderbilt University), Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Immunotherapeutic Targeting of the STING Pathway to Combat Neuroblastoma

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Alexander Jin (Harvard University), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Generating Fusion-Positive Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma in Danio Rerio

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Cade Johnson (Lamar University), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Defining the Phenotypic and Biological Impact of IKZF1 Deletions in Pediatric B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Julianna Mann (West Chester University), The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Study: Home or Away from Home

Co-funded with Love Your Melon                                            

               

Rose Milando (George Washington University), The George Washington University, Washington, DC

Characterizing the Leukemic Microenvironment in Pediatric Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Emily Pariseau (Boston University), Boston University, Boston, MA

Psychosocial Functioning of Siblings of Children with Cancer: A Qualitative Comparison of Parent and Sibling Report

Co-funded with Love Your Melon                                            

 

Jaclyn Rosenthal (University of Pennsylvania), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Interrogating Genomic Signatures of Pediatric Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma to Determine Potential Targeted Therapies

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Amjad Shaikh (Rutgers New Jersey Medical School), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Variation in Care and Outcomes in Pediatric Acute Leukemia

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

Nathan Sunada (University of Hawaii at Hilo), University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI

Elucidating the Mechanism Whereby Native Hawaiian Plant Extracts Induce Calcium-dependent Cell Death in Drug-resistant Neuroblastoma

Co-funded with Love Your Melon

 

John Szigety (Thomas Jefferson University - Sidney Kimmel Medical College), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Preclinical Investigation of Entospletinib in Childhood B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Co-funded with Love Your Melon                            

               

Nikit Venishetty (Rice University), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Genetic Models of Ewing’s Sarcoma

Co-funded with Love Your Melon                                                                            

 

Emily Crawford (Emory University), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

Reactivation of p53-Mediated Apoptosis in Neuroblastoma

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual

 

Brandon Diessner (University of Minnesota), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

A Characterization of TP53 Mutations Among Pediatric Osteosarcoma Cases

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                 

 

Tu Dinh (New York Medical College), University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

ABVD Without Radiation for Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Single Center Retrospective Analysis of 22 Consecutive Patients

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                 

 

Connor Farnham (Denver University), University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO

Targeting Eya2 to Inhibit c-Myc Driven Medulloblastoma Tumor Progression

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                                 

 

Tyler Galvelis (Drexel University College of Medicine), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Racial Disparities in Pediatric Acute Leukemia

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                                                 

 

Yohanna Georgis (Tufts University), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

Characterizing Novel Rearrangements in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                                                                 

 

Siddharth Gorantla (Rice University), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

A Novel Separase Inhibitor, Sepin-1, for Neuroblastoma Treatment

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                 

 

Emily Haussler (Washington University in St. Louis), Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

Identifying Novel Epigenetic Dependencies in Pre-leukemic Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                                                                 

               

Paula Jeon (Oakland University), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Cutting off the Oncogenic Signals that Cofactors Send to Notch in T-ALL

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                                                                 

 

Shilpa Nataraj (University of California San Diego), University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA

Role of Health Literacy on Psychological Distress in Parents of Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Cancer Patients at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                 

 

Yannan (Jennifer) Wang (Augusta University), Augusta University, Augusta, GA

Investigating the Effects of Indoleamine 2-3-Dioxygenase Pathway Blockers in Combination with Chemotherapy and Radiation Treatments on Complement Production in Dendritic Cells and Macrophages

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual

 

Brandon Wummer (University of Florida), University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Adoptive Cell Therapy Against Brain Stem Gliomas

Co-funded with Northwestern Mutual                                                                                 

 

Jacob Athoe (Boston University), Boston University, Boston, MA

Defining the Role of Glutamine Anaplerosis in High Risk MYCN-Driven Neuroblastoma

 

Addys Bode Hernandez (The Commonwealth Medical College), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA         

Identification of LMO1 Binding Partners and Their Role in Neuroblastoma Tumorigenesis

               

Gabriel Cohn (University of Vermont), University of Vermont, Burlington, VT    

The Role of Chromatin Remodeling Complexes in CALM-AF10 Mediated Leukemogenesis

               

Matt Easton (University of Wisconsin), Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI

Optimizing the Trabectedin Induced Differentiation of Ewing’s Sarcoma Cells into Adipocytes     

               

Charles Fleischmann (Reed University) Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX              

Expansion of T Lymphocytes for the Immunotherapy of Children with Cancer     

                               

Kai Fricke (Cambridge), University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Understanding the Role of eIF4E in Medulloblastoma

 

Emily Hong (Georgetown University), Georgetown University, Washington, DC               

Polyploidy and Ewing’s Sarcoma Bone Metastases

 

Joseph Horowitz (Drexel University College of Medicine), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA               

Investigation of Socioeconomic Variables and Neutropenia Management on Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia Outcomes          

 

Bodrie Jensen (Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine), University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Modeling Synovial Sarcoma Metastasis in the Mouse: PI3'-Lipid Signaling and Inflammation

 

Jordan John (Pennsylvania State University), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Identifying a Novel Therapeutic Combination Targeting MEK1/2 and KSR1 in Relapsed Neuroblastoma

 

Benjamin Kleeman (Loyola University Chicago), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH

Translational Utility of New Models of Human AML

 

Michael Koo (Johns Hopkins University), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Unfolding the Paths of MicroRNA Suppression in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

 

Kari Kusler (University of Minnesota), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Epidemiology of Pediatric Germ Cell Tumors: Outcomes and Comparison of Incidence Rates

 

Nathaniel Kwok (Weill Cornell Medical College), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Proteogenomic Approaches for Childhood Cancer Target Discovery

 

Dennis Lee (Weill Cornell Medical College), Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY

Targeting Neuroendocrine (Androgen and Aromatase) Pathways for the Treatment of Pediatric Pontine Gliomas

 

Sarah McCormack (George Washington University), Children’s Research Institute, Washington, DC

Biomaterials-Enhanced Antigen Specific T Cells for Off the Shelf Cancer Immunotherapy

 

Aleksander Mika (University of Rochester), University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Identifying the Mechanism of Action of YW-155 against Survivin in Synovial Carcinoma

 

Laurence Okeke (Johns Hopkins University), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Testing mTOR Inhibition in NF1-driven Low Grade Glioma

 

Louis Perkins (Indiana University School of Medicine), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Childhood Cancer Cardiac Imaging: Past, Present, and Future

 

Kevin Pineault (John Hopkins University), The John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Augmenting Immunotherapy for Sarcomas

 

Keerthana Sankar (Wayne State University School of Medicine), University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Identifying Biomarkers for BRAFV600E Inhibitors to Enhance Therapeutic Responses in Pediatric Gliomas

 

Melanie Schweitzer, (Weill Cornell Medical College) Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY

Modulation of Convection Enhanced Delivery (CED) Distribution using Focused Ultrasound (FUS)

 

Smit Shah (Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School) The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Pilot Studies of Radiation and TORC Kinase Inhibition in DIPG

 

Sara Sinno (Vanderbilt University), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Epigenetic Therapy for Spinal Ependymoma

 

Gabriel Spieler (University of Alabama), Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Studies on the Growth-suppressive Mechanism of PID1 in Childhood Medulloblastoma

 

Claire Tolan (University of San Diego), Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

Characterizing Histone-modifying Protein Interactions with DNA in Infant Leukemia

 

Alexander Wolf (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Investigating the Mechanism of Methotrexate-induced Neurotoxicity

 

Emily Woska (Duke University), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Testing the Diagnostic Yield of a Pediatric Mutation Panel for CNS Tumors

 

Emily Young (Dartmouth Medical School), Boston’s Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA

Role of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) Mutations in Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia

 

Aaron Sebolsky (University of Michigan), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Defining Menin Binding Partners in Ewing’s Sarcoma

 

Rebecca Tang (University of Pennsylvania), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Identifying Targeted Therapeutics in Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome