Team Julian Commits $50K to Critical DIPG Research

February 11, 2012 / by admin / Make A Comment / Filed under News

The Team Julian Foundation is pleased to announce $50,000 in support of two critical research initiatives intended to better understand and combat DIPGs, the deadliest of pediatric brain tumors.

The first of these two partnerships comes in a $25,000 grant to researchers studying DIPGs within the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Washington University. This ambitious three-year effort will sequence the complete normal and cancer genomes of 600 children with some of the most poorly understood and aggressive pediatric cancers. The goal is to identify differences that explain why cancer develops, spreads and kills. Researchers believe the findings will provide the foundation for new tools to diagnose, treat or prevent the disease.

Breakthroughs are already underway – learn more here: Caner sequencing initiative discovers mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumors.

The second of the two partnerships has been forged with the DIPG Preclinical Consortium, a collaboration between patient groups and eight researchers. The consortium represents the only international scientific group focused on preclinical development of targeted therapy combinations for DIPG.  The goal of the research is to test and then move the most effective therapy forward to early phase clinical trials in the next 18 – 24 months.

Learn more here: Patient groups and researchers join forces to speed treatments for rare pediatric brain tumor.

“We are excited to partner with this amazing community of doctors, researchers and other patient groups who are at the forefront of the war on the most dreaded diagnosis in pediatric cancer, the Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPGs),” said Nettie Boivin, president of The Team Julian Foundation. “With no known causes or cures during Julian’s fight, our hope is to give doctors and other families facing this devastating disease a better understanding of why gliomas develop and how they can be effectively treated.”

The $50,000 dedicated to these two critical initiatives comes from The Team Julian Foundation’s fundraising efforts including $40,000 in proceeds from the foundation’s Inaugural Brave Knight: Courage for Cures benefit on Nov. 24, 2011 at The Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, Mich.

The Team Julian Foundation, a 501(c)3, was created by The Boivin Family and their friends to raise awareness and badly needed funds to arm kids with a fighting chance against childhood cancer. Inspired by one heroic little boy, Brad and Nettie Boivin’s 5-year-old son Julian, The Team Julian Foundation is committed to seeking out and supporting the most progressive research dedicated to finding cures for devastating brain tumors, specifically brain stem gliomas, also known as DIPGs. All funds raised will be used strictly for raising awareness of and promoting research against childhood cancer.