Nick Teddy Foundation awards $50k gift for Ewing’s Sarcoma research
By Matthew Martinez
A grant from a local foundation is going to have an impact on Ewing’s Sarcoma research.
The Nick Teddy Foundation has awarded a $50,000 research gift to the Ewing’s Sarcoma Research Fund at Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children’s Hospital. The gift qualified for a Seattle Children’s research match of $50,000, using funds from the Jack R. MacDonald Trust and donors to the Research Discovery Fund, which supports pediatric medical research at Seattle Children’s Research Division.
In the news release, Principal Investigator Beth Lawlor, MD says the funds will allow her lab to accelerate two of its most translational and exciting projects now, instead of waiting for another year or more for funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The projects will be led by two of Dr. Lawlor’s senior postdoctoral fellows, Shireen Ganapathi MD, and Emma Wrenn PhD. The first study will test new drug combinations that researchers hope will prevent and kill metastatic and recurrent Ewing’s tumors. The other project will identify the biologic programs that advance Ewing’s Sarcoma metastasis using digital spatial profiling, a state-of-the-art technology, in both lab animal models and patient tumors.
“We are so grateful to our donors, contributors, and volunteers for their steadfast support over the years,” said the Nick Teddy Foundation’s Board of Directors in a statement. “Their donations have made it possible for us to fund this research, and we are excited more than you know to be able to help these projects advance ahead of expectation.”
The Nick Teddy Foundation was created in memory of Nick Strub, who battled Ewing’s Sarcoma for over five years until his death in 2011. Several other QC area children and adults are dealing with this rare pediatric bone cancer. Proceeds from events have benefitted Ewing’s sarcoma research and local families affected by the disease since 2012. Click here for more information or visit their Facebook page.
