Newswise — Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research announced the University of Chicago Medicine will receive a $50,000 Rally for Research Grant to support Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, and a data commons project for pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer found in children. The grant runs from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.
“Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare but deadly disease affecting children of all ages,” said Volchenboum, associate professor of pediatrics and associate chief research informatics officer at UChicago Medicine.
According to Volchenboum, the data commons will be a central repository for clinical trial data from children with pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma. It will contain data from the U.S. and international sites.
“Ultimately, this will help enrich data collected through genomic studies in order to develop new ways of diagnosing and treating rhabdomyosarcoma,” said Volchenboum.
Funds from Rally will be used to support a developer to build the database for storing the data and the interface for researchers to access the information.
Rally research grants are awarded through a competitive dual peer review process. The Rally Medical Advisory Board that assures the best research is funded. Rally’s Medical Advisory Board consists of 48 of the top childhood cancer researchers throughout the United States and Canada. Rally funds projects for under-studied childhood cancers; innovative approaches to childhood cancer research that could lead to advanced studies or clinical trials; studies that are likely to lead to a clinical trial, personalized, alternative or integrated research proposals; as well as quality of life and survivorship research. All grants are made in honor or memory of a Rally Kid, a child who has fought or is currently fighting cancer.
“Rally sees itself in providing seed money for the next great discovery,” explained Dean Crowe, founder and CEO of Rally. “We are honored to support Dr. Volchenboum’s innovative pediatric cancer research in hopes that it will lay foundation for better treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cures for our Rally Kids and children battling cancer everywhere.”
This grant is part of $2 million-plus that Rally is awarding to 35 research projects across the country this year. Since its founding in 2005, Rally has distributed more than $11 million to more than 254 of the most promising childhood cancer research projects nationwide, including basic science, fellowships and clinical trials.
For more information on how to get involved with Rally, or to donate, visit RallyFoundation.org or @RallyFoundation on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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