Texas Children's Faculty Secure Over $1.5 Million in Research Grants

Faculty at Texas Children’s Cancer & Hematology Center have recently secured over $1.5 million in research grants to advance pediatric cancer and hematology research.

These projects are advancing novel immunotherapies, targeting metabolic and genetic drivers of cancer, improving models for AML and neuroblastoma, and enhancing precision medicine—informing more effective treatments, better outcomes, and improved long-term survivorship care.

Meet the investigators (pictured L-R, top to bottom rows) and learn about their projects below:

• Arianexys Aquino-Lopez, MD, PhD (TXCH profile) | St. Baldrick's Foundation: Exploring virus-specific T cells and oncolytic adenovirus combinations for osteosarcoma

• Eveline Barbieri, MD, PhD (TXCH profile) | Diana Helis Henry Medical Research Foundation: Studying lipid metabolism in MYCN-driven neuroblastoma

• Lisa Bouchier-Hayes, PhD (TXCH profile) | National Institutes of Health (NIH): Modeling caspase-2 deficient nucleophosmin-mutated AML

• Marco Gallo, PhD (TXCH profile) | Ependymoma Research Foundation: Single-cell genomic mapping of EZHIP function

• Tamra Ogilvie, PhD (TXCH profile) | Sam Day Foundation: Investigating RNA splicing in medulloblastoma metastasis

• Deborah Ritter, PhD (TXCH profile) | PTEN Research: Coordinating the ClinGen PTEN Variant Curation Expert Panel

• Alexandra Stevens, MD (TXCH profile) | The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Pediatric AML patient-derived xenograft program

• Mark Zobeck (TXCH profile) | The Fund for Innovation in Cancer Informatics (ICI): Predicting cardiotoxicity using integrated clinical-genomic platforms