Rockstars in Research
Dr. Jim Olson
Dr. Jim Olson is currently working on Tumor Paint- a drug that that finds and attaches to a tumor cells, illuminating them to show surgeons exactly where to cut. The experimental technique has been shown to illuminate brain, prostate, breast, colon, skin and other cancers and is now advancing to human clinical trials.
Project Violet is a team researchers that study natural defenses of plants and animals to develop new anti-cancer compounds called optides that are engineered to attack cancer cells without harming healthy cells around them.
Dr. Nicholas Vitanza
Dr. Nicholas Vitanza is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital and research scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In clinic, he cares for children with central nervous system tumors and, in the lab, he focuses on understanding the epigenetic aberrations of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and its molecular vulnerabilities with the hope of improving outcomes for affected children. He also assists in the development of immunotherapy clinical trials for children with brain and spinal tumors.
Dr. Sarah Leary
Dr. Sarah Leary serves on the Tumor Tissue Subcommittee and the Research Review Committee; Nationally, she is leading several clinical trials to study new medications for children with brain tumors at Seattle Children's Hospital, through the Children's Oncology Group, the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC)and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC). Dr. Leary works with laboratory investigators at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Seattle Children's Research Institute as well as the Pathology Department at Seattle Children's Hospital to identify novel therapeutic targets and tests. The goal of her clinical and translational research is to improve outcomes for brain tumor patients by developing biologically targeted therapeutics.
Dr. Mike Jensen
Dr. Mike Jensen's laboratory work began under the mentorship of Dr. Philip Greenberg, Program Head in Immunology, FHCRC and focused on the immunobiology of tumor-specific T-cells. Following completion of his fellowship, Dr. Jensen joined the faculty at the City of Hope National Medical Center where he built a translational research program integrating gene therapy and cellular immunotherapy for cancer. This program grew in to the Department of Cancer Immunotherapeutics & Tumor Immunology within the Beckman Research Institute and was incorporated into the institutions NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center as the Cancer Immunotherapeutics Program with Dr Jensen as its leader.
Breakthroughs in Research
With the support of our donors, more research is happening every year to make treating cancer safer and more effective for the kids that are affected by this terrible disease. That means not only longer lives, but healthier, more fulfilling lives long after their treatment is complete.
Scorpion Venom
Dr Jim Olsen has wondered for a long time if the cell of Brain Tumors can be lit up in an effective way to allow for a safer, more effective removal of the cancer tissue from the patients brain. With his Scorpion Venom research, Dr Olsen is not only proving it is possible in the lab, but it is actually being use in clinical trials today.
Hope for the Hopeless
Building on the back of the great research being done with Immunotherapy for other forms of pediatric cancer, Dr Nick Vitanza is taking on the application for Brain Tumor patients. With his lofty ambitions, Dr Vitanza is aiming to give kids with rare and deadly forms of Brain Cancer, such as DIPG, hope of a someday finding a cure.
Precision Medicine
Precision medicine is "an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person." This approach will allow doctors and researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of people. Dr. Sarah Leary’s early stage research in the Precision Medicine field is trying to do away with the one size fits all treatment approach of treating cancer in patients.