Childhood Cancer Research

Reach Grants

This award is designed to move hypothesis-driven research toward the clinic. A successful application will identify an unmet clinical need relevant to the care of patients with pediatric cancer and describe how the work performed will allow for the translation of hypothesis-driven research to the clinic, keeping broader clinical testing and implementation in view. A maximum of $250,000 in total costs will be awarded over two years.

Download the 2026 Reach Grant Application Guidelines

All Accelerator Programs All ALSF Funded Projects
2025
Synergistic targeting of PDGFRA/KIT and metabolic pathways in pediatric high-grade glioma: Translational evaluation of avapritinib combined with atorvastatin
Mariella G. Filbin, MD/PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
2025
Clinical translation of mRNA GD2-directed CAR T cells for diffuse midline glioma
Dr. Jessica Foster, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2025
Advancing Biological Understanding of Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma for the Design of Clinical Trials
Dr. Todd Hankinson, MD
University of Colorado Denver_ Anschutz Medical Campus
2025
Intranasal Delivery of Oncolytic HSV in Pediatric Glioma
Rintaro Hashizume, MD/PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham
2025
Sensitizing H3K27M Diffuse Midline Glioma to Radiotherapy with ONC201 and ONC206
Meredith Morgan, PhD
The Regents of the University of Michigan
2024
Overcoming Menin-inhibitor resistance
Kathrin Bernt, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2024
IGFBPL1 Peptide-Centric Chimeric Antigen Receptor Autologous T Cells for Relapsed HLA-A*02 Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma
John M. Maris, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2024
Exploring the Interplay of Microbiome, Bile Acids, Immune Reconstitution, and Clinical Outcomes Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Transplantation in Pediatrics
Oriana Miltiadous, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
2024
Translating sarcoma antigen-directed co-stimulatory NK cells to the clinic
Robin Parihar, MD/PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
2024
Metabolic engineering of CD70CAR T cells to enhance immunotherapy targeting DIPG
Loic Deleyrolle, PhD
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
2023
Identification of Aberrantly Methylated Differentially Expressed Genes to Distinguish High- vs. Low-Risk Retinoblastoma
Jesse Berry, MD
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
2023
Feasibility Study of Dual Inhibition of MDM2 and Tubulin in Treatment of AML
Muxiang Zhou, MD
Emory University
2023
Reversing Feedback Immunosuppression during Oncolytic Virotherapy of Pediatric High Grade Glioma
Bangxing Hong, PhD
Augusta University Research Institute, Inc.
2023
Immunoglobulin High-Throughput Sequencing for Refining Risk Stratification in Infant B-ALL
Carol Fries Simpson, MD
University of Rochester
2023
Circumventing Pediatric Solid Tumor Microenvironment Resistance by Combinatorial CAR NK and Immunomodulating Therapy
Mitchell Cairo, MD
New York Medical College
2022
Enhancing TKI Therapy in Ph-Like Leukemia
David Fruman, PhD
The Regents of the University of California, Irvine
2022
Mechanistic and Therapeutic Development of ATM as a Tumor Cell Selective Target for Radiosensitization in H3K27M DMG
Meredith Morgan, PhD, Daniel Wahl, MD/PhD
The Regents of the University of Michigan
2022
Novel Therapy for Pediatric Leukemia Patients with NUP98 Translocations
Jolanta Grembecka, PhD
The Regents of the University of Michigan
2021
Novel Genomic Diagnostics for Intracranial Germ Cell Tumors
Ching Lau, MD/PhD
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Foundation, Inc.
2021
Dual PTK7/GD2 Gamma Delta CAR T Cell Therapy for Neuroblastoma
Kelly Goldsmith, MD, H. Trent Spencer, PhD, Chris B. Doering, PhD
Emory University
2021
Stapled Peptide PROTAC: A 3-in-1 Treatment for Pediatric Solid Tumors
Loren Walensky, MD/PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
2021
Optimization of Drug Efflux and Brain Clearance to Improve CED of Targeted Therapy to H3K27M DMG
David Daniels, MD/PhD
Mayo Clinic
2021
IND-Enabling Studies for WNTinib, a Novel Selective Therapeutic for CTNNB1 Mutant Hepatoblastomas
Ernesto Guccione, PhD, Josep Llovet, MD, Arvin Dar, PhD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
2019
Multivalent Nanomedicine to Treat High-Risk Pediatric Solid Tumors
Garrett M. Brodeur, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2019
Generation of CMV-specific CD19 CAR T cells Using Cytokine Capture Followed by Lentiviral Transduction and Expansion
Margaret Lamb, MD
Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
2019
Targeting a Novel Epigenetic Signature in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas
Danny Reinberg, PhD
New York University School of Medicine
2019
Optimizing TCRαβ+/CD19+-depleted haploidentical HSCT for ALL using donor-derived genome-edited CAR T cells
Alice Bertaina, MD/PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine
2019
Preclinical Development of a First-in-Class PCNA Inhibitor for Treating Neuroblastoma
Linda Malkas, PhD
City of Hope National Medical Center
2018
Epigenetic Targeted Therapy and Resistance in Pediatric Rhabdoid Tumor
Rintaro Hashizume, MD/PhD
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
2018
Identifying a Therapeutic Partner for TAK228 for Pediatric Phase II Brain Tumor Studies
Eric H. Raabe, MD/PhD
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2018
Immuno-therapeutic Targeting of CD56 in CBA2T3/GLIS2-AML in Children
Soheil Meshinchi, MD/PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
2017
Phase I Study of Lentivirus Engineered Autologous AML Cells Expressing IL-12 in Children and Young Adults with Relapsed AML
Michael Burke, MD, Jeffrey Medin, MD/PhD
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
2017
Targeting Chondroitin Sulphate Proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4) in Glioblastoma
Gianpietro Dotti, MD, Barbara Savoldo, MD/PhD
University of North Carolina
2017
Therapeutic Targeting of PGBD5-induced DNA Repair Dependency in Pediatric Solid Tumors
Alex Kentsis, MD/PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
2016
Targeting PLK1 as a Common Mechanism in Ph-like ALL
Joya Chandra, PhD
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
2016
LSD1 Inhibition to Treat T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia/Lymphoma
Michael Engel, MD/PhD
University of Virginia, School of Medicine
2016
DFMO Synergy with Chemo-immunotherapy to Eradicate MYC-Driven Neuroblastoma
Michael Hogarty, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2016
Astatine-211 Meta-Astatobenzylguanidine ([211At]MABG) Targeted Radiotherapy for Disseminated Neuroblastoma
John M. Maris, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2015
Targeting PI3Kdelta in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Yong-mi Kim, MD/PhD
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
2015
Therapeutic Reactivation of p53 to Overcome Apoptotic Resistance in Pediatric Leukemia
Loren Walensky, MD/PhD, Kimberly Stegmaier, MD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
2015
Targeting Novel Pediatric-Specific FLT3 Mutations
Soheil Meshinchi, MD/PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
2015
Adoptive Immunotherapy of Tr1 Cells to Improve Outcome of Allo-HSCT Treatment for Pediatric AML
Maria-Grazia Roncarolo, MD, Rosa Bachetta, MD
Stanford University
2014
Identification of Rhabdomyosarcoma Therapies Using an Efficient Mouse and Drosophila Repurposing Screen
Mary Baylies, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
2014
Identifying Novel Therapeutic Combinations with 131I-MIBG to Treat Relapsed and Refractory Neuroblastoma
William Clay Gustafson, MD/PhD
The Regents of the University of California San Francisco
2014
A Novel Target for Neuroblastoma Treatment
Linda Malkas, PhD
Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
2014
Targeted Inhibition of the DNA Damage Response Pathway: A Novel Intervention in the Treatment of Pediatric Leukemias
Andre Nussenzweig, PhD
National Cancer Institute
2014
DNA Methylation Inhibitor Therapy for Testicular Germ Cell Tumors
Michael Spinella, PhD
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2013
Combining Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus with GD2.CAR-modified Vaccinia Virus-specific T-cells for the Treatment of Relapsed Neuroblastoma and Sarcoma
Cliona Rooney, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
2013
Development of a Pharmacodynamic Marker of EWS-FLI1 Activity to Aid in the Clinical Translation of Targeted Therapies for Ewing sarcoma
Patrick Grohar, MD/PhD
Van Andel Research Institute
2013
Novel Strategy for Reducing Radiation-Induced Morbidity and Treating Recurrent Medulloblasoma
Rakesh Jain, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
2013
Moving EphB4 Therapeutics to Pediatric Phase I/II Trials
Charles Keller, MD
Oregon Health & Science University
2013
Epigenomics of High Risk Pediatric T Cell Leukemia
Iannis Aifantis, PhD
New York University School of Medicine
2013
Development of a Novel Mer Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor for Treatment of ALL
Doug Graham, MD/PhD
University of Colorado Denver
2013
Neural Stem Cell-Mediated Drug Delivery for Targeted Treatment of Medulloblastoma
Margarita Gutova, MD
Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
2013
Preclinical Development of Targeted Therapy for Neuroblastoma with ALK and CDK4/6 Dual Pathway Inhibition
Yael Mossé, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
2013
B-lapachone as a Novel Targeted Therapy for ATRTs and other Pediatric Cancers
James Amatruda, MD/PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
2013
Stroma Biology Identifies Heparin as a Differentiating Agent in Neuroblastoma
Gerard Blobe, MD/PhD
Duke University Medical Center
2013
Targeting RNA Helicase DDX3 to Treat Recurrent High Grade Sarcoma
David Loeb, MD/PhD
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2013
Immunotherapy for Pediatric Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor
William Decker, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
Reach Grant