History

As alumni of the University of Minnesota, and where Gabe received treatment over the years, she and Justin felt like a partnership with the Cancer Research Center at the U was an obvious choice. The first grant was made in 2020, for $100,000 over two years and focused on immunotherapy for pediatric osteosarcoma in the Moriarity Lab.

Dr. Branden Moriarity leads a research laboratory working to develop novel cellular therapeutics for gene therapy and cancer immunotherapy with the goal of translating new therapies to the clinic. In addition to developing cellular therapies, the Moriarity lab also performs preclinical drug testing for pediatric cancers, such as osteosarcoma, in order to launch new clinical trials using antibody therapies rather than toxic chemotherapy.

“Current therapies for osteosarcoma are insufficient and rely on highly toxic chemotherapy. I believe that engineered immune cell based therapies will eventually be used to safely and robustly cure all forms of pediatric cancer, including osteosarcoma.” -Dr. Moriarity

Osteosarcoma (OSA) is the most common cancer of the bone in children and adolescents, with approximately 900 new cases annually. The research being completed by Dr. Moriarity and his team will help change the stagnant nature of osteosarcoma treatment options and give patients better care after being diagnosed.

The 5-year survival rate for pediatric osteosarcoma patients with localized disease is less than 70% and patients with clinically apparent metastases at presentation is less than 29%. Approximately 20-30% of patients have overt metastases at diagnosis and about 40% will develop lung metastases at a later stage. With no new treatments for osteosarcoma in the last 40 years, advances in treatment and prevention are urgently needed to combat this rare pediatric cancer. The University of Minnesota is at the forefront of this quest, and the generous support of donors like you can help advance our work in promising new directions.

Grant Information

The Abigail Anderson Postdoctoral Fellowship

In 2022, the Brave Like Gabe Foundation and the University of Minnesota Foundation started discussing future opportunities and chose to extend the original research funded back in 2020. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to the mission of the Moriarity Lab and the funds from Brave Like Gabe will be used specifically to support an international postdoctoral fellow assisting in the development of immunotherapies for osteosarcoma. Unlike US Citizens, international students are not able to apply for standard training grants through governmental organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF). The three year grant commitment will allow the Moriarity Lab to attract and retain a top postdoctoral fellow who will have a greater impact backed by consistent funding and support. The recipient of the fellowship will be announced soon!

The fellowship was named in honor of Abigail Anderson, a University of Minnesota alumni, artist, pediatric nurse, and Gabe’s sister. As a pediatric nurse, Abigail was committed to caring for young children and their families during the hardest days of their lives. She passed away in the summer of 2021 and we are honored to make this grant as a part of her legacy. This grant is made possible in part by KLN Family Brands.

Research Highlights

• The Brave Like Gabe Foundation funding has helped secure more than $1.1M in additional funding for Dr. Branden Moriarity’s lab

• These funds will be used to develop next generation immunotherapies tailored to finding a cure for osteosarcoma

• Cancer immunotherapies are being used to cure some cancer patients and/reduce side effects from previously standard treatments of chemo and radiation. The Moriarity lab is actively working on expanding the use of these therapies other cancers that have been more difficult to treat like osteosarcoma

• Within the next 1.5 years, Dr. Moriarity’s Lab aims to bring new hope to osteosarcoma patients by opening a Phase 1 clinical trial

Discovery Spring 2024 Article:

"Cancer-fighting boot camp" is one way to illustrate the ground-breaking research happening in Dr. Moriarity's lab. 💙🔬 Our multi-year research grant at the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota is developing next generation immunotherapies to find a cure for osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

The immunotherapy results are incredibly promising. “It has cured people of cancer who otherwise should not have lived,” Dr. Moriarity says. “These are highly metastatic patients who have exhausted every other treatment option, and these adoptive cell therapies have come in and actually cured them.”

We are honored to support this incredible rare cancer research at the University of Minnesota. Your donations make this work possible, thank you! 💛

Full Article: https://discoverymag.umn.edu/stories/cancer-fighting-boot-camp

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