PBTF Institute Program

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation believes that outcomes for children with brain tumors will improve more quickly if researchers share the results of their work with each other.

That's why we built our research institute program on the principle of collaboration. Investigators at each PBTF Institute—at Duke University, the University of California, San Francisco, and Canada's Hospital for Sick Children—communicate often and meet annually.

Researchers presented the results of more than 40 PBTF-funded basic and translational brain tumor research projects at the second PBTFI conference in April 2008 in San Diego. These scientists are working to

understand the signaling systems of pediatric brain tumors involved in mitogenesis, survival and cell death in an effort to identify new targets for childhood brain tumor therapy;
characterize the phenotypic and genetic alterations that are unique to benign and malignant pediatric brain tumors;
identify the genes and genetic variations that underlie tumor resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy;
develop immunotherapeutic approaches aimed at improving control of localized and disseminated pediatric brain tumor disease;
find new, safer approaches to control CNS disseminated disease; and
create innovative biological-based treatments for childhood brain tumors

The PBTF started its research institute program in 2003. Total funding now exceeds $14 million.

PBTF Institute at Duke University
Grant Award 2003-2008: $12 million
Director: Darell D. Bigner, M.D., Ph.D.
   Chair, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Scientific Advisory Board
   Director, Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke
   Edwin L. Jones, Jr. and Lucille Finch Jones Cancer Research Professor

PBTF Institute at University of California, San Francisco
Grant Award 2005-2008: $1.3 million
Director: Mitchel S. Berger, M.D.
   Director, Brain Tumor Surgery Program
   Director, Neurosurgical Research Centers, Brain Tumor Research Center
   Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurological Surgery
   Kathleen M. Plant Distinguished Professor

PBTF Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children
Grant Award 2005-2008: $1.3 million
Director: James T. Rutka, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC, FACS, FAAP
   Co-director, The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre
   Dan Family Chair in Neurosurgery, Professor and Chair, Div. of Neurosurgery, Univ. of Toronto