500K Abby Streszoff Memorial Grant

July 31st, 2020

Prayers from Maria recently named a $500,000 pediatric cancer research grant after Abby Streszoff, the late daughter of Family Liaison Laurie Streszoff. Abby died of a brain tumor at age 6.

"Therapeutic approaches for PPM1D mutant Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas" by Pratiti Bandopadhayay - Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Timothy Phoenix - Cincinnati Children's Medical Center bring together two of the most advanced pediatric neuro-oncology translational and clinical programs in the world. The investigators, in collaboration with additional experts in England and Germany, are now amplifying the potential effect of the MDM2 inhibitor with combinations of other biologic therapies, radiation and/or chemotherapy. This provides the opportunity for rapid translation into the patients who need these therapies the most. Another critical aspect of the proposed project is to identify the mechanisms by which DIPG tumor cells develop resistance to these treatments so that the inevitable failure that has been observed in all other therapy approaches for DIPG can be predicted and prevented.