100% Fund: 2024

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, Sarcoma Research Canada, Mélia’s Memory, Team Finn, Eli’s Childhood Cancer Foundation, Childhood Cancer Canada, and Kindred Foundation 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.  Each 100% Fund grant provides $100,000 for a two-year research project.

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!  

Congratulations to the three 2023/2024 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 Sarcoma Research Canada, Kindred Foundation, and Childhood Cancer Canada. ($35,000 total from Kindred Foundation, including Project Kindness)

2025 UPDATE: The research team has successfully analyzed imaging data from children and young people who took part in earlier studies, with all scans securely shared, organized, and fully analyzed in collaboration with partners. A scientific paper describing the first phase of results has been drafted. In parallel, the team has gathered and organized imaging and clinical data from more than 100 sarcoma patients across nine sites in Canada, creating one of the largest national datasets of its kind. While some image analysis took longer than expected, a one-year extension was approved to ensure the work is completed thoroughly and accurately.

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 Cancer Foundation, Fight Like Mason Foundation and Kindred Foundation, with support from Childhood Cancer Canada and C17 Council. ($30,000 total from Kindred Foundation, including Project Kindness)

2024 UPDATE: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a rare and aggressive childhood cancer with limited treatment options for advanced stages.  Accurate laboratory models of cancer are critical to help understand how cancer develops, spreads, and responds to treatment.  This initiative has made progress in developing new RMS models, including models that replicate metastatic disease.  By analyzing tumor biology and using advanced imaging, the team is working to understand how chemotherapy impacts the immune environment within the tumour to ultimately design more effective, personalized therapies.

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. ($90,000 total from the Phoebe Rose Rocks Committee with Kindred Foundation)

2025 UPDATE: Over the past year, the researchers made important progress toward a new immune-based treatment for infant leukemia. They confirmed a reliable target on leukemia cells, developed a highly effective and long-lasting treatment approach that can overcome resistance to standard therapies, and built in safety features to better protect patients. Together, these advances bring them closer to clinical trials and offer new hope for infants and young children facing this aggressive disease.