Download The Impact of the Ted Mullin Fund at the University of Chicago

 The Impact of the Ted Mullin Fund
at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital
Sarcoma Research Support:
Dr. Navin Pinto and his colleagues are developing a new clinical treatment called the Genomics of Risk Evaluation
and Treatment in Children with Cancer (GREAT Kids). This phase I trial is focused on analyzing the genomic data
of healthy and cancerous cells in children with sarcoma and other diseases. The data are compared against a library
of drug sensitivity information from hundreds of tumor samples in order to design a personalized treatment
regimen that may incorporate previously unused therapies for pediatric cancer.
Ted Mullin Fund Scholars:
As a way to foster the next generation of physician scientists devoted to pediatric cancer research, the Ted Mullin
Fund Scholars program allows undergraduates to advance their interest in science and cancer biology with faculty in
their laboratories at Comer Children’s Hospital. Participants in the Ted Mullin Fund’s "Hour of Power" Relay for
Sarcoma Research fundraiser, who also meet other application criteria, are eligible to apply for this 10-week
program. In the past three years, a total of 13 Scholars worked on unique projects, all of which generated new
knowledge that will have an impact across pediatric and adult cancers, including sarcoma. These projects have
included: research on neuroblastoma, a solid, cancerous tumor that begins in the sympathetic nervous system and is
found in the abdomen, neck, head, or pelvis; the study of cancer evolution and the progression of Acute Myeloid
Leukemia (AML) and Extramedullary AML; and work involving zebrafish, which have proven to be an excellent
model for studying human disease, particularly blood diseases. Four new scholars will begin in summer 2015.
Publications:
The Ted Mullin Fund was acknowledged in a paper published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology in
September 2014. Ted Mullin Scholar Katie Bennett and faculty members Dr. Eric Beyer and Dr. Joanna Gemel
were listed as authors of the paper.
Updates in pediatric cancer research at Comer Children’s Hospital:
The Ted Mullin Fund supports scholars and researchers, creating a culture of learning, training, and innovation.
Below are additional exciting developments in this area.
• Dr. Susan Cohn and her team developed and are using an International Neuroblastoma Research Group
(INRG) database available to investigators around the world. They are now poised to link the genomic data
to the clinical data, providing an unparalleled resource for neuroblastoma researchers. Dr. Cohn used the
data to identify genetic variants in neuroblastoma and how they contribute to developing high risk disease.
• Dr. Kenan Onel identified two tiny genetic variations that can predict which patients with Hodgkin’s
lymphoma and sarcoma are most likely to develop radiation-induced second cancers years after treatment.
This finding will help us modify their care to prevent this long-term complication.
• Dr. Jill de Jong and Dr. Onel are using human cancer cells in zebrafish to study human cancer and drug
resistance in real time. This work is informing the development of new targeted therapies for specific
cancers, helping us achieve our vision of personalizing cancer therapy to each individual patient.
• Dr. James LaBelle is working with partners in the Institute for Molecular Engineering to identify innovative
therapies for rare cancers through manipulating the immune system and its response to solid tumors such as
Ewing’s sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, and lymphoma.