RESEARCH GRANTS

From September 2017-December 2020, Anthony’s Avengers DIPG Foundation operated under Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG® Foundation as, Anthony’s Avengers Defeat DIPG® Foundation. Over three years, with the combined efforts of Defeat DIPG® Network Foundations and ChadTough Foundation, more than $6.1 million was awarded to fund DIPG-specific research projects. These grants are specific to DIPG research and include Research Grants, New Investigator Grants and Fellowship Grants.

RESEARCH GRANTS

  • David Ashley, Duke University “Recombinant Attenuated Poliovirus Immunization Vectors Targeting H#.(K27M) in DIPG”

  • Catherine Flores, University of Florida “Enhancing efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy against DIPG using hematopoietic cells.”

  • Stephanie Galban, University of Michigan “Targeting Cancer Stem Cells in DIPG.”

  • Nalin Gupta and Daniel Lim, University of California San Francisco “Use of a Long Non-coding RNA (IncRNA) as a Therapeutic Target in DIPG.”

  • Daphne Haa-Kogan and Brendan Price, Dan Farber Cancer Insitute “Dependence of DIPGs on DNA polymerase θ for DNA repair defines a new therapeutic target.”

  • Michelle Moje, Stanford University “The Tumor Microtube Network in DIPG: Targeting a Possible ‘Achilles Heel’ Required to Defeat DIPG.”

  • Hideho Okada, University of California San Francisco “Next-generation CAR T cell therapies for treatment of DIPG, utilizing sequential ‘prime-and-kill’ circuits to achieve safe and effective tumor targeting”

NEW INVESTIGATOR GRANTS

  • SAMEER AGNIHOTRI, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE “Therapeutic Targeting of Metabolic Vulnerabilities in DIPG”

  • Pratiti Bandopadhayay, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute “Characetorizing long non-coding RNAs as therapeutic targets in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma”

  • Matthew Dun, Hunter Medical Research Institute at the University of Newcastle “Unlocking oncogene addition to identify synergistic treatment targets for the treatment of DIPG”

  • Stephen Mack, Baylor College “Interrogating the role of POU Transcription Factor Driven ERV Activation in H3K27M Diffuse Midline Glioma”

  • Zach Reitman, Duke University “Enhancing the efficacy of radiation therapy for DIPG”

  • James Stafford, University of Vermont “ONC201 in DIPG; establishing mechanism, enhancing efficacy and determining long-term phenotypic consequences”

  • Sujatha Venkatataman, University of Colorado Denver “MIC2 inhibition mediated apoptosis in DIPG”

  • Nicholas Vitanza, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center “Optimal combinatorial targeting of HDAC inhibition and radiation in DIPG”

Fellowship Grants

  • Jamie Anastas, Harvard University/Boston Children’s Hospital "Targeting chromatin regulation to treat DIPG”

  • Chan Chung, University of Michigan “Targeting DIPGs by interrupting metabolic pathways”

  • Alan Jiao, Boston Children’s Hospital “Dissecting mechanisms of H3K27M oncohistone function in DIPG”

  • Nneka Mbah, University of Michigan “Therapeutic Targeting of the Disrupted Metabolic State in DIPG to Induce Ferroptotic Cell Death”

  • Eshini Pandithatatna, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute “Targeting epigenetically induced vulnerabilities in DIPG”

  • Chen Shen, Northwestern University “Dissection of ATRX in Duffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma”

  • Xu Zhang, Columbia University “Mechanistic studies on the WNT5A signal pathway in DIPG tumor”