Funding Childhood Cancer

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Funding research and clinical trials for children, adolescents and young adults with cancer is about looking forward, pushing on the science, and doing better for children who are diagnosed with cancer in the future.  Kindred Foundation is proud to partner with organizations from around the world to fund research that will make a difference in the lives of kids with cancer.

2024 Kindred Foundation Funding for Childhood Cancer Initiatives

100% Fund

100% Fund: Funding Osteosarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma and Infant Leukemia Research


Nearly one in five children diagnosed with cancer will not survive. For children with rare and hard-to-cure cancers, the odds can be far worse. The 100% Fund was created to challenge these odds. Phoebe Rose Rocks Foundation, Fight Like Mason Foundation, AnnFrances Tropea Foundation, Mélia’s Memory, Team Finn, Eli’s Childhood Cancer Foundation, Kindred Foundation and Childhood Cancer Canada have partnered to fund research for children and teens who do not, yet, have their cure.  The 100% Fund targets pediatric and adolescent cancers that are hard-to-cure cancers that have not responded to available therapies. The goal is to fund research with the potential to deliver improved treatment and increased survival rates.  The C17 Research Network administers these grants.


With the support of CMLS Financial and Intellifi Corporation and fundraising through Project Kindness 2023, CMLS Financial and Intellifi raised $41,000 to go towards these grants!  Kindred Foundation has also committed to fund $20,000 towards the 100% Fund grants for rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma.  Each 100% Fund grant provides $100,000 for a two-year research project.


Congratulations to the three 100% Fund grant recipients:


Dr. Rebecca Deyell, BC Children’s Hospital | Osteosarcoma

Dr. Rebecca Deyell of the BC Children’s Hospital was awarded $100,000 for her grant entitled: “Impact of Body Composition and Pharmacogenomics on Toxicity and Survival outcomes in Childhood Bone Sarcoma”  A 100% Fund grant funded in partnership with The AnnFrances Tropea Foundation and Kindred Foundation, with support from Childhood Cancer Canada and C17 Council.


Dr. Rebecca Gladdy, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute | Rhabdomyosarcoma

Dr. Rebecca Gladdy of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute was awarded $100,000 for her grant entitled: “Modelling the molecular spectrum of RMS: creating subtype specific models that are metastatic and immunocompetent”  A 100% Fund grant funded in partnership with Eli’s Childhood Caner Foundation, Fight Like Mason Foundation and Kindred Foundation, with support from Childhood Cancer Canada and C17 Council.


Dr. Jongbok Lee, University of Calgary | Infant Leukemia

Dr. Jongbok Lee of the University of Calgary was awarded $100,000 for his grant entitled: “Developing novel off-the-shelf CAR-T cell for relapse/refractory infant AML”  A 100% Fund grant funded in partnership with The Phoebe Rose Rocks Committee with Kindred Foundation, and Mélia’s Memory Foundation, with support from Childhood Cancer Canada and C17 Council.

The ACTION Consortium: Funding Neuroblastoma Cancer Research

We are excited to announce the first Research Funding Award by the ACTION Consortium. Founded by five non-profit organizations: The Anticancer Fund, The Evan Foundation, Kindred Foundation, Solving Kids’ Cancer UK and Zoé4Life.  The ACTION Consortium is a collective force committed to Advancing Clinical Trial Implementation and Optimisation in Neuroblastoma (ACTION).

 

Our debut funding call is focused on refractory and relapse neuroblastoma, a hard-to-cure solid tumour cancer most often diagnosed in children.  The grant calls for innovative approaches to accelerating clinical trials and the evaluation of novel therapies. By pooling our resources to form the ACTION Consortium, this award will be one of the largest seen in the neuroblastoma field, standing at $2 million USD. Our aim is to challenge the scientific community to bring proposals with the potential to instil significant change to the neuroblastoma landscape, which will directly and positively impact children facing this devastating disease.

 

Kindred Foundation is honoured to partner with the ACTION Consortium to help push forward on the treatment of relapsed and refractory (hard-to-cure) neuroblastoma.  Funding from Kindred Foundation will ensure that the research and clinical trial that is ultimately funded by this grant will be implemented in Canada.  Canada plays a significant role in international childhood cancer research; however, far too often Canadian children do not get access to innovative clinical trials.  Kindred Foundation is funding the Canadian operations of this grant, providing $450,000 USD (~$600,000 CAD) over four years.


This feat of international collaboration has been born from the shared values and missions of our five organizations- to drive and invest in clinical research that addresses the areas of most unmet need within childhood cancer and bring better treatment to children as rapidly as possible. We are excited to be entering into this partnership for the benefit of children with neuroblastoma and look forward to seeing this award progress.

 

This grant call has been developed and funded by the ACTION Consortium and is being managed by Solving Kids’ Cancer UK on behalf of consortium partners.  For additional information, please see our one-page summary on the ACTION Grant (PDF).

2023 Kindred Foundation Funding for Childhood Cancer Initiatives

The Defeating Embryonal Cancer in Young People Together (DECRYPT) Research Grant is intended to challenge the current childhood embryonal cancer landscape by providing funding for a research project that will address an unmet need for these pediatric brain cancers.  The DECRYPT grant is designed to fund research that will ideally lead to a significant change in the understanding, diagnosis, and/or treatment of childhood embryonal brain tumours.

 

The DECRYPT Research Grant is funded by Kindred Foundation, Cancer Research Society (CRS), Phoebe Rose Rocks, Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, The Miracle Marnie Foundation, Childhood Cancer Canada, and Tali’s Fund.  This collaboration is built on the shared goal to make significant change for children with embryonal brain tumours by investing in clinical research.



The DECRYPT Research Grant provides a significant investment of $600,000 CAD for one 4-year research project.  The awardee of the inaugural DECRYPT Grant is Dr. Annie Huang from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and her cross-Canada team.

Dr. Annie Huang from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and her cross-Canada team has been awarded the DECRYPT Research Grant for her project titled: “A C17babybrains DECRYPT Feasibility Trial for Children <6 Years Old with High-Risk Embryonal Brain Tumours.”  (December 2023)

2022-2023 Kindred Foundation Funding for Childhood Cancer Initiatives

Childhood Blood Cancer Research Innovation Grant


In 2022, Kindred Foundation partnered with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada to co-fund two childhood blood cancer research innovation grants.  We are proud to announce the two projects that we co-funded:


Dr. Cynthia Guidos | SickKids, Toronto 

Identifying the Genetic Changes that Lead to Ruxolitinib Resistance 

Modern chemotherapy regimens can cure acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in most children, adolescents, and young adults. Unfortunately, outcomes remain poor for children whose ALL is caused by certain high-risk genetic mutations, known as Ph-like ALL. This subtype occurs very commonly in children and is more frequent in individuals of Hispanic/Latino and Indigenous ancestry. Ph-like ALL often comes back even with the best available chemotherapy.  

 

A new targeted therapy called ruxolitinib was created to block an important pathway that contributes to the cancerous behaviour of Ph-like ALL cells. A phase 2 clinical trial is ongoing to test whether adding ruxolitinib to chemotherapy can decrease relapses in children with Ph-like ALL. However, some children have already relapsed, suggesting that their leukemia cells found a way to outsmart the drugs and become resistant.  

 

In this project, the researchers are studying blood and bone marrow samples from pediatric Ph-like ALL participants in the clinical trial. They hope to learn why leukemia cells can sometimes outsmart the drugs and lead to relapse, either by developing DNA mutations or rewiring the pathways inside the cells to hide from the drugs. The results will be used to identify new therapies that attack other leukemia cell targets with a goal of overcoming or even preventing resistance to ruxolitinib in patients with Ph-like ALL. 

 

 

Dr. Florian Kuchenbauer | BC Cancer, Vancouver  

MiR-193a-Based LNP Drug Treatment for Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia 


Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a blood cancer with poor outcomes. Currently, treatment still relies on chemotherapies which have an impact on the physical and mental development of children.  

 

COVID-19 and mRNA-based therapeutics used to treat it have changed the world. Key to their success was the

encapsulation of mRNAs within liposomal nanoparticles (LNPs).  

 

Dr. Kuchenbauer’s research group and others have recently highlighted the potential of microRNA (miRNA) encapsulated LNPs to target specific mutations in leukemias, with fewer side effects. The team’s previous data showed that miR-193a (a gene associated with cancer) is significantly decreased in pediatric normal karyotype AML (CN-AML) . In CN-AML, it has been shown that engineered over-expression of miR-193a slowed down the

development of AML.  


An LNP-miR-193a-3p-based drug (INT-1B3) is currently being studied in a clinical trial for solid tumours and the researchers will be testing this drug in pediatric CN-AML models. They aim to pioneer novel LNP-miRNA-based formulations for the treatment of pediatric AML. This innovative approach will help to reduce the chemotherapy burden on children, improve treatment outcomes, and help to foster normal development in a frail and underserved population.


You can read more on The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada website.

Fit ABCS Clinical Trial for Childhood Brain Cancer Survivors


In 2022, a clinical trial will run that uses the Fit ABCS portal to develop exercise training for childhood brain tumour survivors. The goal is to gather feedback on the tool to further improve and refine the Fit ABCS portal and to learn more about how the brain changes because of exercise. The information gathered from this clinical trial will help to provide the basis for a larger national clinical trial using Fit ABCS with children across Canada.

The clinical trial is currently accepting children and youth who are between 6-17 years of age, were diagnosed with a brain tumour 1-15 years ago, are medically stable and meet English language requirements (additional exclusion criteria may apply). Ultimately, the Mabbott Lab hopes that Fit ABCS will be an effective tool to develop exercise programs for children and youth with a brain injury due to treatment of a childhood brain tumour and, in time, children and youth with other types of brain injuries.  Kindred Foundation is helping to fund this clinical trial.


For more information please read how Kindred Foundation is supporting research that is happening at The Mabbott Lab at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Kindred Foundation partnered to fund a Canadian adolescent and young adult (AYA) grant focused on the "Molecular Classification of Primary CNS Tumours in Adolescent and Young Adults."  The proposal from Dr. Uri Tabori, Dr. Julie Bennett and Dr. Cynthia Hawkins was selected by the C17 Research Network and co-funded by Kindred Foundation with the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network and the Michael Kamin Hart Research Fund.


2021 Kindred Foundation Funding for Childhood Cancer Initiatives

Funding the Oncology Resource Navigator Role at SickKids

A childhood cancer diagnosis is devastating. You immediately enter a new world with a myriad of appointments, clinic visits, and forms, coupled with the financial, emotional, and social burdens that permeate the entire family’s lives. But when focusing on your child, it’s hard to find time or energy to seek out the resources that can help. Three years ago, to make the treacherous cancer journey for families a little easier, the Garron Family Cancer Centre (GFCC) at SickKids began a Resource Navigation pilot project as part of the Centre’s burgeoning Psychosocial Program. It quickly became an essential support network for families and patients, but funding for the project was scarce. Kindred Foundation is proud to be a new supporter of the SickKids oncology Resource Navigator program.

 

Resource Navigators Lisa Berardo, Social Worker, and Dennis Maplazi, Youth Worker and Health Specialist, are located in the centre of the SickKids Cancer Clinic, working long and unpredictable days – every one of them challenging and gratifying. “We help hundreds of cancer patients and their families who are lost and afraid. They need direction and access to accommodations, grocery delivery services, documentation, and form support, financial aid for routine expenses like wigs, travel to the hospital, daycare, and so much more,” explains Lisa. For particularly challenging cases, the team liaises with the larger Resource Navigation Service at SickKids to tap into its far-reaching network and expedite processes to ensure families are well supported.

 

With the help of Kindred Foundation, the GFCC can continue assisting families with the resources they need so they can focus on what matters most, the health and well-being of their child. As one grateful parent puts it, “Without the Resource Navigators, our family wouldn’t have been able to make it through. They supported us through every twist and turn. For that, and for so much more, we are eternally grateful.”

 

Starting in 2021, Kindred Foundation is funding one of the oncology Resource Navigator roles for three years. We are pleased to support this critical program at SickKids.

Lead Funder of the Childhood Cancer Canada Benevolent Fund

In 2021, Kindred Foundation became the lead funder of the Benevolent Fund operated by Childhood Cancer Canada.  The Benevolent Fund assists families with the cost of their child's funeral when they die from cancer.  

There are too many losses and costs that come with childhood cancer.  Unfortunately, if a child dies from cancer, a family may not have the means to be able to provide for an appropriate burial for their child.  Every family should be able to bury their child with grace and dignity.  

In 2022, Childhood Cancer Canada will increase the amount of financial assistance from up to $1,000 to $1,500 to better support families in a time when they need it most.  To access the fund, the family's Social Workers provides the necessary information, and if approved, Childhood Cancer Canada makes a payment directly to the funeral service provider.  Kindred Foundation is very proud to be able to support the Benevolent Fund and also make it possible to increase the amount of funding that is available for bereaved childhood cancer families.

The Benevolent Fund is the only national program of its kind, providing support to families across Canada.  We are pleased that 100% of the donation provided will be allocated to the Benevolent Fund.  Please see the Childhood Cancer Canada website for more information about the Benevolent Fund.

Funding Research for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancerous Brain Tumours

Kindred Foundation partnered to fund a Canadian adolescent and young adult (AYA) grant focused on the "Molecular Classification of Primary CNS Tumours in Adolescent and Young Adults." The proposal from Dr. Uri Tabori, Dr. Julie Bennett and Dr. Cynthia Hawkins was selected by the C17 Research Network and co-funded by Kindred Foundation with the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network and the Michael Kamin Hart Research Fund. 


Kindred Foundation also provides funding for the following in the area of childhood cancer: