CancerFree KIDS Invests $1M in Childhood Cancer Research at Cincinnati Children’s
Post Date: November 20, 2025 | Publish Date:
CancerFree KIDS has announced it is investing $1M—the most it has ever given—to fund innovative and critical research at Cincinnati Children’s.
This milestone marks CancerFree KIDS’ largest single-year funding increase of $250,000, as well as the highest annual funding total in its 23-year history.
The gift reflects CancerFree KIDS’ mission to find gentler, more effective treatments for childhood cancers. Since 2002, the organization has invested $12.5 million in early-stage research projects, fueling 265 new ideas with the potential to change outcomes for children and families.
The grants will once again support New Idea Awards, designed to fund bold concepts in the earliest stages of discovery, and Accelerator Awards, which allow researchers to continue promising work that has already demonstrated success.
“To be able to award $1 million to Cincinnati Children’s for the first time is a moment of pride and purpose for our organization,” said Jill Brinck, executive director of CancerFree KIDS. “Every dollar raised means more opportunities for researchers to explore new, less toxic treatments – and more hope for kids and families facing cancer.”
“Funding from CancerFree KIDS is crucial to progress,” says Stella Davies, MBBS, PhD, MRCP, director of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immune Deficiency at Cincinnati Children’s. “By investing in research in its critical early stages, CancerFree KIDS paves the way for researchers to explore ideas that they might never have the chance to pursue otherwise. The organization fills a unique need, one that drives innovation and allows for groundbreaking discoveries that hold the promise to bring more effective treatments to kids.”
CancerFree KIDS 2025 Research Grant Investments
New Idea Awards
- Unraveling the role of RMND1 in polyamine depletion therapy for pediatric acute Myeloid leukemia.
- Principal investigators: Karina Elizabeth Jimenez Camacho, PhD
- Defining the role of IRAK4 signaling on LSC chromatin state.
- Principal investigator: Issac Choi
- Mechanism of Action for Targeting LARG-RhoA Signaling in Relapsed Neuroblastoma.
- Principal investigator: Yuan Lin, PhD
- Understanding the role of RAS mutations in resistance to menin inhibition in KMT2Ar pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
- Principal investigator: Linde Miles, PhD
- Suppressing both inflammation and MEK to cure neurofibroma.
- Principal investigator: Nancy Ratner, PhD
- Targeting glutathione metabolism in pediatric AML.
- Principal investigator: Paula Saez Raez
- Splicing neoantigens as therapeutic targets in pediatric AML.
- Principal investigator: Nathan Salomonis, PhD
- Novel vulnerabilities in acute myeloid leukemia.
- Principal investigator: Zhe Wang, PhD
- Stopping Pediatric AML in Its Track by Dialing Down Inflammation in RUNX1-FPD Children.
- Principal investigator: Chen Wang, MD, PhD
- Identifying targets to overcome cisplatin resistance in pediatric liver cancer.
- Principal investigator: Peng V. Wu, MD, PhD
Accelerator Awards
- Therapeutic targeting of the gut microbiota-driven TIFA signaling in refractory AML.
- Principal investigator: Puneet Agarwal, PhD
- Understanding the Role of IGF2BP1 in Hematopoietic Ontogeny and Myeloid Leukemia Development in Infancy.
- Principal investigator: Lynn Lee, MD
- LINE-1-Mediated inflammaging in High-Risk Pediatric Cancers.
- Principal investigator: Kristie Ramos, MD
- CHAF1B degraders as a new first-in-class pediatric AML therapy.
- Principal investigator: Andrew Volk, PhD
- Small molecules targeting SOS1 allosteric site in KRAS-driven JMML.
- Principal investigator: Yi Zheng, PhD
Don’t Miss a Post:
- Subscribe to the Research Horizons Newsletter
- Follow Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation on Bluesky, X and LinkedIn
Latest Posts
About this blog
The Research Horizons blog features news and insights about the latest discoveries and innovations developed by the scientists of Cincinnati Children's. This blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Email researchnews@cchmc.org with questions or ideas.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter