Out of Zion Award Program
Hope4ATRT Foundation is a research entity of Out of Zion, Inc. We take a grassroots approach to funding research. Through strategic partnerships with dedicated pediatric cancer researchers, we create new channels for ATRT specific work. Our approach seeks to improve outcomes for children with ATRT across the globe.
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Total 2022 Award: $62,000
2022 Recipient: Dynamic CSF Biomarkers to Detect Therapeutic Resistance and Relapse in Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Brain Tumours Research at the Hospital for Sick Children
Award Amount: $25,000
Hope4ATRT is teaming up with Tali’s Fund (Canada) to fund a promising research project led by Dr. Annie Huang, neuro-oncologist and Senior Scientist at the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. The study will capitalize on a SickKids-developed treatment plan called the Toronto Standard of Care Protocol, which uses chemotherapy directly delivered to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to help avoid the side effects of brain and spine radiotherapy. As part of this treatment protocol, Dr. Huang has collected and banked over 100 CSF samples from patients since 2012.
The SickKids team will now employ cutting-edge technology to see if DNA shed by tumor cells in CSF can be used to predict which children can be spared radiotherapy. The researchers also hope this tool will allow them to detect treatment resistant or recurrent ATRTs early. Armed with such tools, doctors will be able match treatment intensity and duration to an individual patient’s response, making adjustments as needed to maximize effectiveness and reduce or avoid severe treatment-related toxicity from radiotherapy as well as intensive chemotherapy. Such a tool could potentially be used to monitor response to novel therapies, including immunotherapy, in the future.
More details can be found in this Press Release.
2022 Recipient: Pacific Pediatric Neuro-oncology Consortium (PNOC) Foundation AT/RT Working Group
Award Amount: $12,000
The PNOC Foundation ATRT Working Group is a collaboration of physicians and scientists from around the world who meet regularly to share pre-clinical data and their best ideas and strategies for research. A key approach is the creation of the world’s first ATRT Registry to gather all available patient data in one dataset – an unprecedented tool to understand ATRT and accelerate research. Hope4ATRT donated $12,000 to cover the cost of adding eight patients to the ATRT Registry. This cost includes adding the patient's tumor tissue, imaging and clinical data to the Registry. More details can be found here.
2022 Recipient: ATRT Translational Research Program within Beat Childhood Cancer at Atrium Health Levine Children’s
Award Amount: $25,000
This fund is established to support the ATRT translation research program within the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium, headquartered at Levine Children’s hospital. This consortium coordinates the clinical trial efforts of 50+ universities and children’s hospitals worldwide and oversees its ATRT translation research program. Led by Dr. Sholler, the Consortium launched a new biology study last year that built on their previous research called the LCI-BCC-BIO-001 Specimen Banking with Clinical and Genomic Data Registry with the establishment of Tumor Models for Pediatric Cancers. This study focuses on brain tumor and solid tumor samples from children with a variety of diagnoses, including ATRT. These tumor samples undergo complete genomic analysis, including whole exome and transcriptome testing, to better understand the biology of each child’s cancer. Mutations and pathways active in driving each individual tumor are identified in hopes of developing therapeutic approaches and personalized medicine. In addition, cells from these tumors are being grown in culture and creating xenograft models for high throughput drug screening.
More details can be found in this Press Release.
Total 2021 Award: $50,000
2021 Recipient: St. Baldrick’s Stand Up 2 Cancer's Dream Team
Award Amount: $50,000
St. Baldrick's Foundation (SBF) and Hope4ATRT will continue to fund a joint pediatric cancer research grant restricted to research focused on ATRT or work that can benefit ATRT patients.
Stand Up To Cancer-St. Baldrick's Foundation Dream Team has been selected as the specific project for this award. Hope4ATRT has chosen to support the Dream Team due to its ground-breaking progress in treatments for kids with cancer, by harnessing a child’s own immune system to fight cancer, especially leukemias. Now, adding focus on solid tumors, specifically their research in atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT), the Dream Team’s research matches Hope4ATRT’s mission to support research for cures and treatments for AT/RT.
More details can be found in this Press Release.
Total 2020 Award: $62,500
2020 Recipient: St. Baldrick’s Scholar/Hope4ATRT Award
Award Amount: $50,000
St. Baldrick's Foundation (SBF) and Hope4ATRT will fund a joint pediatric cancer research grant that is evaluated to be scientifically viable by both foundations. Funding from Hope4ATRT is restricted to research focused on ATRT or work that can benefit ATRT patients. The funds raised will provide much needed support for investigation of brain tumor research. Specifically of interest to HopeATRT is central nervous system atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT).
Stand Up To Cancer-St. Baldrick's Foundation Dream Team has been selected as the specific project for this award. More details can be found in this Press Release.
2020 Recipient: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN)
Award Amount: $12,500
This fund is established to support the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors (ATRT). There are currently 11 ATRT tumors that need WGS. These funds are estimated to cover 50% of the total cost to sequence all 11 tumors.
These efforts may include the full range of research, from basic laboratory studies to clinical trials, including multi-center trials. More details can be found in this Press Release.
Total 2019 Award: $25,000
2019 Recipient: ATRT Translational Research Program
Award Amount: $25,000
In collaboration with the Hope4ATRT Foundation, the ATRT Translational Research Program, within Beat Childhood Cancer, focuses on identifying children with ATRT to support them through clinical treatment trials, and provide resources for the affected children and their caregivers. The Out of Zion Award from the Hope4ATRT Foundation offers assistance for children with ATRT to enroll in The Signature Study: Molecular Analysis of Pediatric Tumors with Establishment of Tumor Models in an Exploratory Biology Study. This study allows the tumor to undergo complete genomic analysis to better understand the biology of each child’s tumor by identifying the mutations or pathways active in driving the tumor. In addition, the tumor cells are grown in culture and xenograft models for high throughput drug screening.