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Funded Grants

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Immunotherapy as a targeted low-impact treatment of paediatric brain cancers

Project Overview

The existing treatment regimens for children with ependymomas are generally not successful and if successful survivors are left with considerable disabilities including severely diminished IQ, focal neurological and language deficits, and endocrine deficiencies. Dr. Donovan’s current proposal aims to develop an improved targeted therapy, which will increase survival rates, and minimize the tragic effects of the existing non-specific cytotoxic therapies on Canadian children. The overall goal is to use a milder, less toxic therapeutic approach to reduce the immediate and long-term effects of paediatric brain cancer on the developing brain. Dr. Donovan’s research will test the hypothesis that patients who have ERBB2-expressing tumours may respond to ERBB2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells therapy.

Principal Investigator

Laura Donovan , The Hospital For Sick Children

Partners and Donors

Hospital for Sick Children

Project Complete

Immunotherapy as a targeted low-impact treatment of paediatric brain cancers

  • Grant Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Cancer

  • Disease Area

    Brain Cancer

  • Competition

    Brain Canada - Kids Brain Health Network Training Awards

  • Province

    Ontario

  • Start Date

    2016

  • Total Grant Amount

    $110,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $55,000

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

Please note all online donations will receive an electronic tax receipt, issued by Brain Canada Foundation.

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Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

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