Abeloff V Scholar * (Three-way Tie for Top Rank)
Funded by the Hirsch Family in memory of Ann Hirsch
There is a strong need for new treatments for brain tumor patients. To address this need, we asked how a common mutation in brain tumors may create weaknesses that we could use to develop new treatments. We identified a process that brain tumor cells with this common mutation rely on to live. Next, we used a drug to block this process and found that it kills brain tumor cells with this common mutation. We would like to know why these cells rely on this process and whether brain tumors grown in mice respond to this drug. If our work is successful, our efforts could lead to new studies that will test this drug in human brain tumor patients. We are hopeful that our discovery could lead to improvements in the lives of brain tumor patients.
