Blogs: Families, Foundations & Researchers

Gift from a Child was well represented in Tampa, Florida at the 2022 annual meeting for the Society for Neuro-oncology (SNO). This annual meeting is the largest national gathering of neuro-oncology professionals.
The week kicked off with education sessions, co-chaired by one of GFAC’s PIs, Dr. Michelle Monje, of Stanford. The focus of her track was the intersection of neuroscience and neuro- oncology.
In collaboration with Alex’s Lemonade Stand, Swifty Foundation (funder of GFAC) co-funded one of the early career researchers, Dr. Zulekha Qadeer. Dr. Qadeer won an award for and presented her abstract titled “ DDDR-33 – Targeting TGF² pathway dependencies in group 3 medulloblastoma”.
GFAC had the opportunity to present two abstracts of our own findings. They were both presented by our scientific intern, Nicole Lyons. We were thrilled to share our latest data, that we have had 195 (now over 200) successful post-mortem brain tumor tissue donations from over 50 (now over 55) different institutions since 2019.
Overall, SNO was a fantastic opportunity to connect with neuro-oncology professionals, both familiar and new. We are grateful for the chance to share our experiences and knowledge with the larger community in the hope of helping future patients.

Among the many methods scientists use to understand human diseases, donated patient tissue is a uniquely precious tool. A recent study published this month in Nature Genetics investigated the heterogeneity of cell types and gene expression in DIPG/DMG patient tissue possessing the characteristic H3K27M histone mutation.

Dr. Mariella Filbin’s team, in collaboration with Dr. Mats Nilsson in Stockholm and Dr. Michelle Monje at Stanford (a GFAC Center of Excellence), utilized patient tissue donated across several years to analyze the cellular composition of these aggressive pediatric tumors. Previous research has suggested these tumors arise not from neurons, but from cells resembling oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). OPCs have many important functions in the brain throughout the lifespan. This study addresses ongoing questions in DMG research including: the gene expression profiles of these cancer cells, changes in expression between different brain region and patients, and the cellular arrangement of the tumor.

Gift from a Child’s work is rippling across the pediatric cancer community. It’s been exciting to work with so
many families, researchers, organizations, and supporters over the past eight years to create a national
program serving childhood brain cancer families and accelerating scientific discoveries.

Michael made the decision to donate his post-mortem brain tissue to research. That was our call to action,
and we jumped in. With almost $6 million invested, we have accomplished so much. With
your help, we can do much, much more.

Patti and Al Gustafson will go anywhere and talk to anyone about their son Michael, who died of brain cancer at age 15. The Gustafsons want everyone to get the message: families can help find a cure for cancer by donating their child’s post-mortem brain tissue to research.

This autumn, two events put childhood cancer in the spotlight as the #1 cause of death by disease in children: the first BrainStorm Summit at CureFest and the White House Forum on Childhood Cancer. At both events, families who have lost children to brain cancer shared their experiences with top researchers and policymakers.

Gift from a Child’s Ginny McLean was on the steering committee for the inaugural BrainStorm Summit, a day-long conference held before the annual CureFest for Childhood Cancer in DC. Gift from a Child hosted a panel discussion on post-mortem tissue donation and data-driven discoveries in pediatric brain tumors.