Hyundai Hope On Wheels Announces Four Quantum Award Grant Recipients To Receive A Total Funding Of $5.5 Million Towards Pediatric Cancer Research

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels® (HHOW), a 501c3 nonprofit organization, celebrates its 20th year in the fight against pediatric cancer. For 2018, HHOW announced fifty-seven (57) Children's Oncology Group (COG) institutions to receive a combined $145 million in grants for pediatric cancer research in the U.S. The organization also announced that it selected four (4) institutions to receive the largest grant categories offered by HHOW – The Hyundai Quantum and The Hyundai Quantum Collaboration Award. This is the second time in the 20-year history of the non-profit organization that it has made available its Quantum Award category.

Hyundai $2.5 Million Quantum Collaboration Grant Winner:
Dr. Julia Glade Bender of Columbia University Medical Center (New York, NY)

Hyundai $1 Million Quantum Grant Winners:
Dr. Joshua Schiffman of Primary Children's Hospital (Salt Lake City, UT)
Dr. Richard Vile of Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
Dr. Todd Druley of St. Louis Children's Hospital (St. Louis, MO)

The Quantum Award (QA) and Quantum Collaboration Award (QC) are aimed at funding research focused on childhood cancers with a poor prognosis. Each is focused on funding transformational pediatric cancer research.  The Quantum Award is a $1,000,000 award to a single institution, to be paid in 4 equal installments of $250,000 each over 4 years.  The Quantum Collaboration Award is a $2,500,000 award to two or more institution, in 5 equal installments of $500,000 each over 5 years.

The pediatric cancers considered for funding with the 2018 QA and QC were: pediatric CNS tumors, metastatic pediatric solid tumors, pediatric myeloid leukemia, and Osteosarcomas. Grant winners were selected from a peer reviewed competitive process, on the basis of quality of science, innovative approach, institutional commitment, translational in nature, and potential impact on the field. Our ultimate long-term goal is to increase the survival rates for pediatric cancers, which have historically shown low cure rates. We look forward to the day when no child ever dies from cancer again.

"For 20 years, Hyundai and its dealers have dedicated their mission to saving lives and creating hope through Hyundai Hope On Wheels. We are proud of the research work that has been done and the lives that have been saved by the dedicated research community," says Scott Fink, Board Chair and Hyundai dealer owner, Hyundai of New Port Richey. "We know that for too many pediatric cancers there remain little progress and few good treatment options for children. That's why we provided these large multi-year awards to some of the finest research-scientists, who are finding new treatment approaches and better ideas to finding more cures for the disease. We believe this is a fight we can win, and we are committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve that goal."

Quantum Collaboration And Quantum Award projects selected

Dr. Julia Glade-Bender, was selected to receive the QC Award for Osteosarcoma, and to lead a team of researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (New York, NY), Memorial-Sloan Kettering (New York, NY), University of San Francisco Children's (San Francisco, CA), and Dana-Farber Cancer Center (Boston, MA). Osteosarcoma is the most commonly diagnosed bone tumor in children and adolescents, yet no new treatment approaches have successfully been introduced in nearly 40 years. The Hyundai Quantum Collaboration Grant will enable Dr. Glade-Bender to lead a bi-coastal team of researchers who aim to identify treatments that can neutralize the cancer's growth and metastasis. Patients with osteosarcoma have not benefited from recent breakthroughs like immunotherapy or DNA sequencing and require a shift in the understanding and approach to therapy. To do this, the team will leverage novel cancer systems biology approaches that model the cellular logic of cancer cells, using supercomputers to identify optimal treatment options for each patient.

Dr. Joshua Schiffman was selected to receive a QA Award and his team recently discovered that elephants have 20 copies of the tumor-fighting gene that may help explain their natural ability to avoid cancer. Dr. Schiffman will now use the Quantum study elephant-based medicine — treatment options based on the TP53 gene in elephants— to determine its potential in future treatment of children and teenagers with osteosarcoma.

Dr. Richard Vile was selected to receive a QA Award and will focus on improving treatment for pediatric brain tumors, specifically those that develop rapidly and are fatal to the children affected by them. The research will use immunotherapy, a type of treatment that signals a patient's own immune system to detect and fight tumor cells. Dr. Vile and team have identified interactions between immune cells and tumor cells that could lead to a treatment for these previously untreatable diseases. The team is eager move forward with the research and development of a clinical product that will give hope to future patients and their families.

Dr. Todd Druley was selected to receive a QA Award and will focus on Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a cancer of the bone marrow that results in 50% of pediatric cancer deaths. One reason for poor outcomes in children is the inability to precisely judge genetic differences in the disease both before and after treatment. This HHOW Quantum Award will leverage a multi-disciplinary team of pediatric leukemia experts to study very rare AML mutations in order to tailor therapies to the unique biology of children—improving treatments and increasing survival rates.

More information on each of these researchers and other grant winners can be found on our website. Approximately 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in the U.S. Hyundai Hope On Wheels's goal is to help kids survive, and thrive in their lives after the disease. With Federal funding for pediatric cancer remaining below 4% of NIH funding for all cancers, the HHOW grants provide an important source of funding to assist local children's hospitals with life-saving research efforts. 

There are three other HHOW grant categories: Impact Grant ($100,000), Young Investigator Grant ($200,000), and Hyundai Scholar Hope Grant ($300,000). Applications are graded by a panel of scientific reviewers, for their innovation and potential to increase discovery. Each grant winning hospital will be visited by HHOW in 2018, at which our signature handprint ceremony will be held with brave pediatric cancer fighters.

Supporters and followers of HHOW are invited to post photos or messages on social media using hashtag #EndChildhoodCancer. For more information about Hyundai Hope On Wheels and to view a complete list of our 2018 Hope On Wheels grant winners, please visit www.hyundaihopeonwheels.org/research.  You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, twitter.com/HopeOnWheels or Instagram.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels. 

ABOUT HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS
Hyundai Hope On Wheels® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest non-profit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 835 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $145 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure.

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA
Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through 835 dealerships nationwide. All new Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes a 5-year/60,000-mile fully-transferable new vehicle limited warranty, Hyundai's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty and five years of complimentary Roadside Assistance.

For more details on Hyundai Assurance, please visit www.HyundaiAssurance.com

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