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The Olivia Luna Brown Fighting Chance Grant
Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation (CKc) Young Investigator Grant in Partnership with Kindred Foundation
The goal of CKc’s Young Investigator Grant is to fund innovative research that is within 2-3 years of translation to a clinical trial or is already associated with a clinical trial. It focuses on funding research on pediatric cancers that are either underfunded or under-researched that aim to provide better quality of life or symptom relief than current treatments. Kindred Foundation is proud to partner with Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation to co-fund The Olivia Luna Brown Fighting Chance Grant, a $140,000 CAD Young Investigator Grant that will be funded over the next three years.
Dr. Anirban Das | SickKids, Toronto
Biomarker development for combined PD1+LAG3 inhibition in RRD glioblastoma
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a type of brain tumour where treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation often don’t work. Recently, a subtype of GBM was found to be caused by DNA replication errors that lead to many mutations. Sometimes these mutations can be targeted by immunotherapy and while immunotherapy helps some patients, new treatments are needed for others. Dr. Das’ and his team created mouse models of this GBM and tested new immunotherapy combinations, showing promising results. Now, they are studying the immune response in these tumours and have approval to try the therapy in children. They will also analyze biomarkers to confirm how the immune system is reacting. If successful, this therapy could be tested in larger trials and become the new standard treatment for this deadly disease.
2025 UPDATE: In 2025, the research team made strong progress testing new immunotherapy approaches in laboratory models, showing improved survival and slower tumour growth, even in cases where tumours are typically harder to treat. In patients, early results are encouraging: more individuals are benefiting from treatment stability or tumour response, with fewer treatment interruptions compared to older combination therapies. We have also put systems in place to closely study how the immune system responds over time, allowing us to better understand why these treatments work and to develop markers that may help guide future patient care.
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