3-year-old brain tumor survivor Cameron Corno joined her mother Stewi (R) and CCF President Tasha Museles (L) for some post-talk discussion and cookie eating. Stewi shared their cancer journey with the participants.
UPDATED 7/1/22: The videos for each presentation are viewable as a playlist on our YouTube Channel and as links below.
For the 6th Annual CCF Research Symposium held on June 8th, childhood cancer researchers joined survivors, advocates, cancer care teams and community leaders to share latest pediatric cancer research breakthroughs and to discuss ways to work together to advance local research. The brainchild of CCF Scientific Advisory Board Chair Jeffrey Toretsky, M.D., of MedStar Georgetown Hospital in 2016, the CCF Research Symposium is based on the belief that small local research dialogue will go a long way toward substantial research collaboration.
Unique among scientific research conferences, the symposium hosts primarily local participants, a prominent poster session, features talks by younger investigators, and involves the non-scientific community. This one-day event caters to the local research community to allow for small group discussion. Finally, it is through the generous support of The Kahlert Foundation that allowed CCF to extend free registration to all participants.
Attendees enjoyed the presentation from Keynote speaker Jack Shern, M.D. of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), who discussed how cancer treatment has improved and will continue to improve through better understanding the tumor at a molecular level. Other presenters represented NCI, Children’s National, Johns Hopkins, and Georgetown Hospital and shared in-depth findings from their research tackling brain tumors, neurofibromatosis, rhabdomyosarcoma and other cancers. Each 2021 CCF Research Grant recipient gave a talk on their funded research progress or presented a poster.
During the lunch break, the poster session encouraged a wide representation of local research, including over 25 posters of research projects. Poster presenters enjoyed interactive discussions about their research, facilitating collaboration between institutions while generally strengthening the relationships that make up this dedicated community of those involved local pediatric cancer research.
Regularly considered the most important part of the day were the presentations of those directly affected by pediatric cancer – the fighters and their families. One of the most emotional moments came from Aaliyah Beckles, who is battling Rhabdomyosarcoma and shared her extensive journey toward receiving an accurate diagnosis. In the afternoon, we met 3-year-old Cameron Corno, who after two years, is now a brain cancer survivor. Cameron’s mother Stewi shared their harrowing experience.
CCF extends appreciation to Scientific Advisory Board members Brigitte Widemann, M.D. of NCI and Brian Rood, M.D. of Children’s National for their support as well as to CCF Board member, Steve Coomes, for volunteering his entire day to CCF! Finally, we are grateful to The Kahlert Foundation for making the symposium possible through their support. This was truly a community and collaborative event. The 7th Annual CCF Research Symposium is tentatively scheduled for June 7, 2023.
Presentations available here and on YouTube:
* 2021 CCF Research Grant Funded researcher or representative
Session I: Small Round Blue Cell Tumors
- Tara Suntum, M.D., MedStar Georgetown Hospital (Georgetown), “Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer: Importance of Small Round Blue Cell Tumors (rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma)”
- Aaliyah Beckles, College student and patient with rhabdomyosarcoma
- *Emre Deniz, Ph.D. Georgetown, “Ezrin Asserts its Roles on Osteosarcoma Metastasis Through Interacting with RNAs”
- *Patience Odeniyide, M.D., Johns Hopkins Medicine (Johns Hopkins), “Targeting oncogenic HRAS via vertical RAS pathway inhibition in HRAS-mutated human rhabdomyosarcoma”
- Rosa Nguyen M.D., Ph.D. National Cancer Institute at NIH (NCI), “Novel immunocytokines mediate potent anti-tumor cytotoxicity against neuroblastoma”
Keynote Address – Jack Shern, M.D. Pediatric Oncology Branch, Center of Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, “Targeted Treatment Strategies based on Understanding of the Molecular Mechanisms of Tumors”
Session II: Tumor Microenvironment
- *Kristin Wessel, M.D., NCI, “It’s not just the cancer, it’s the neighborhood it grows in: Addressing the Microenvironment”
- Stewi Corno, Mother and Advocate of Cameron Corno, young child with Anaplastic Ependymoma
- *Miriam Bornhorst, M.D., Children’s National Hospital, “Optical Genome Mapping reveals novel structural variants in pediatric brain tumors”
- Anandani Nellan, M.D., NCI, “CCL2 mediated immunosuppression and CAR-T cell function in posterior fossa ependymoma”
- *Lindy Zhang, M.D., Johns Hopkins, “Mechanisms of immune escape in NF1-associated peripheral nerve sheath tumors”
- Cancer fighter Aaliyah Beckles provided the audience with a heartbreaking yet inspiring story about her delayed diagnosis
- Aaliyah was joined by her family.
- Georgetown oncologist Tara Suntum, M.D. offerend an overview of soft tissue tumors.
- Keynote Jack F. Shern, M.D. of NCI presented compelling research to understand the mechanisms of a tumor
- Cameron posed with her newly-received Survivor Hero medal
- Georgetown investigator Emre Deniz, Ph.D shares his recent research on osteosarcomas..
- Hopkins researcher, and 2021 Grant awardee Patience Odeniyide, M.D. presents her research on rhabdomyosarcoma
- Rosa Nguyen, M.D., PhD shared immunotherapy research on neuroblastoma
- SAB Member and Deputy Dir. of the NCI, Brigitte Widemann, M.D. introduces her colleague at the NCI, keynote Jack Shern, M.D.
- The mid-day poster session allowed for small group or one-on-one discussions about research findings.
- Emre Deniz, Ph.D. of Georgetown reviews one of the studies.
- Saravana Selvanathan, Ph.D. of Georgetown asks about Hopkins student researcher Kris Malebranche’s study.
- Dr. Nguyen discusses her research presented on her poster
- CCF-funded Hopkins researcher Jeff Rubens, M.D. and Keynote speaker Jack Shern, M.D. of the NCI
- 2021 CCF Giant Food NextGen Awardee Keri Toner, M.D. of Children’s National responds to Georgetown Hospital’s Jeff Toretsky, M.D.
- The 2021 and 2016 NextGen awardees Keri Toner, M.D. of Children’s and Jeff Rubens, M.D. of Hopkins
- Anan Nellan, M.D. of NCI discusses her CAR-T cell immunotherapy treatment
- Lindy Zhang, M.D. of Hopkins presents the progress of the 2021 CCF-funded research on early detection of nerve sheath tumors.
- Pictured from Left: Jeffrey Dome, M.D. Chief of Oncology, Children’s National, Jerry Chadwick, D.M. CCF Board Chairman, and Jeff Toretsky, M.D., Chief of Oncology/Hematology, Georgetown Hospital
- Jerry Chadwick, CCF Board Chair, and Steve Coomes, CCF Board member enjoy the day.
- We are grateful for The Kahlert Foundation for making this event possible.