Nemours Children’s Health scientists receive two NIH grants to advance pediatric cancer research

Nemours Children's Health researchers have received two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $5 million. They include a $3.3 million NIH R01 grant awarded to Kimberly Canter, PhD, Research Scientist, Center for Healthcare Delivery Science (CHDS), Nemours Children's Health, Delaware, to research the effectiveness of an eHealth intervention, the Electronic Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program (eSCCIP), which provides psychosocial care for English and Spanish-speaking parents and caregivers of children with cancer, and a $1.7 million NIH R01 grant awarded to Sigrid Langhans, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Laboratory, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware, to investigate targeting mechanosignaling pathways in pediatric brain cancer.

I congratulate all of the incredible work that has been done to secure each of these transformational grants awarded by the NIH. Nemours Children's Health is committed to advancing pediatric cancer research in all areas including diagnostics, treatments and caregiving, as a part of the Nemours continuum of care."

Mary M. Lee, MD, FAAP, Nemours Children's Chief Scientific Officer and Physician-in-Chief in the Delaware Valley

A Randomized Controlled Trial of eSCCIP: An eHealth Psychosocial Intervention for English and Spanish Speaking Parents of Children with Cancer: 3.3 Million NIH R01, Kimberly Canter, PhD, Research Scientist, Center for Healthcare Delivery Science , Nemours Children's Health, Delaware

As Principal Investigator, Dr. Canter will lead a team of Nemours associates including Anne Kazak, PhD, Enterprise Director, CHDS, Steven Reader, PhD, Psychologist, Kamyar Arasteh, PhD, Senior Research Scientist and Biostatistician, Aimee Hildenbrand, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, and Karen Wohlheiter, PhD, Pediatric Psychologist to evaluate the effectiveness of an eHealth intervention, eSCCIP, to provide psychosocial care to English and Spanish-speaking parents and caregivers of children with cancer. Parents and caregivers for children with cancer are at high risk for multiple psychosocial issues and this online intervention is significant in providing a more accessible means to deliver care when in-person interventions can be difficult.

Targeting Mechanosignaling in Pediatric Brain Cancer: $1.7 Million NIH R01, Sigrid Langhans, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Laboratory, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware

A collaborative effort with the University of Delaware, Dr. Langhans and co-investigators Darrin Pochan, PhD, Professor & Chair at University of Delaware, Karen Sperle, MS, Research Associate at Nemours Children's Health, Rahul Nikam, MD, Radiologist at Nemours Children's Health, and Xuyi (Kevin) Yue, PhD, Research Scientist at Nemours Children's Health, will address the need for more effective therapies for pediatric brain cancers, especially for the most common brain cancer medulloblastoma, a tumor that originates in the cerebellum. The team is using an innovative 3D cell culture approach that is compatible with automated high throughput screening to evaluate mechanosensitive signaling pathways that have emerged as powerful targets in cancer drug discovery, including for the treatment of medulloblastoma. This research work will present new opportunities for developing therapeutic approaches for medulloblastoma by laying the foundation for a future high-throughput drug discovery approach through use of these innovative 3D pediatric brain cancer models.

Nemours Children's associates continue to be recognized by the NIH as uniquely positioned in the industry to conduct thoughtful, effective research and foster new investigators in transformative fields of study.