Research grants awarded in 2007
In 2007, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation concluded year five of our $6.9 million commitment to our PBTF Institute Program. This milestone achievement is especially significant in the search for the cause of and cure for childhood brain tumors because the National Institutes of Health (NIH) federal funding for pediatric brain tumor research has continued to lag behind adult brain tumor research.
PBTFI Program at Duke University
Grant Award 2003-2008: $6 million
- Director: Darell Bigner, M.D., Ph.D.
Establishment of Cell Lines, Xenografts and Monoclonal Antibodies and Pilot Project Core - Hai Yan, M.D., Ph.D.
Serial Analysis of Gene Expression of Childhood Brain Tumors - Jeremy Rich, M.D.
Signal Transduction in Pediatric Central Nervous System Cancers - Henry Friedman, M.D.
Definition of Non-AGT-DNA Mismatch Repair Deficiency Mechanisms of Resistance to Temozolomide - Francis Ali-Osman, D.Sc.
Epigenetic Regulation of Drug Resistant Genes in Medulloblastoma - Roger McLendon, M.D.
Tissue Bank Core - Michael Graner, Ph.D.
Investigational New Drug and Reagent Preparation - Michael Zalutsky, Ph.D.
Gene and Radiotherapy
PBTFI Program at University of California, San Francisco
Grant Award 2006-2008: $300,000
- Director: Mitchel S. Berger, M.D.
Administrative and Statistical Core - Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, Ph.D.
Central Nervous System Development and Brain Stem Glioma Tumorigenesis - David Rowitch, M.D., Ph.D.
Central Nervous System Development and Brain Stem Glioma Tumorigenesis - C. David James, Ph.D.
Pediatric Brain Tumor Xenograft Panel - William A. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D.
MYCN and Medulloblastoma Tumorigenesis - Graeme Hodgson, Ph.D.
Genome-based marker and Therapy Development in Pediatric Brain Tumors - Nalin Gupta, M.D, Ph.D.
Convection-enhanced and Intra-nasal Delivery of Therapeutic Agents to the Rodent Brainstem - Krys Bankewicz, Ph.D.
Convection-enhanced and Intra-nasal Delivery of Therapeutic Agents to the Rodent Brainstem - Scott VandenBerg, M.D, Ph.D.
Tissue Bank Core
PBTFI Program at Childrens Hospital, Los Angeles
Grant Award 2006-2008: $300,000
- Director: Robert Seeger, M.D.
Genomics - Associate Director: Anat Erdreich-Epstein, M.D., Ph.D.
Microenvironment and Angiogenesis; Pediatric Brain Tumor Core - Leonid Metelitsa, M.D., Ph.D.
Immunotherapy and Microenvironment - Patrick Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D.
Cell Lines and In Vitro Pre-Clinical Drug Testing - Stefan Bluml, Ph.D.
Molecular Imaging - Richard Sposto, Ph.D.
Biostatistics Core - Shahab Asgharzadeh, M.D.
Pathology, Tumor and Nucleic Acid Bank - Jonathan Finlay, M.D., Ch.B.
Associate Director for Clinical Translation - Nino Keshselava, M.D.
Cell Lines and In Vitro Pre-Clinical Drug Testing
PBTFI Program at the Hospital for Sick Children
Grant Award 2006-2008: $300,000
- Director: James Rutka, M.D., Ph.D.
High Resolution Genotyping of a Large Cohort of Pediatric Medullolastomas; Identification of Truncating Mutations in Pediatric Medulloblastoma - Michael Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.
Identification of Interstitial Germline Deletions in Children with Complex Clinical Syndromes that Include Medulloblastoma; High Resolution Genotyping of a Large Cohort of Pediatric Medulloblastomas - Eric Bouffet, M.D.
Identification of Interstitial Germline Deletions in Children with Complex Clinical Syndromes that Include Medulloblastoma - Peter Dirks, M.D., Ph.D.
Ultrahigh Resolution Genotyping of Highly Purified Medulloblastoma;
Identification of Truncating Mutations in Pediatric Medulloblastoma
PBTF Research Awardees
C. David James, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, $50,000
Orthotopic Pre-clinical Model for Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (AT/RT)
Rajeev Vibhakar, M.D., University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, $50,000
Role of Micro RNA 124A in Medulloblastoma
Simon N. Willis, Ph.D., The Brigham and Women’s Hospital, $50,000
In Situ Identification of Antibody Targets Expressed by Intracranial Germinomas
Fredrik Johansson Swartling, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, $50,000 Characterizing and Treating Cancer Stem Cells Isolated from a MYCN Medulloblastoma Model
