Koschmann Grant Funded in partnership with Catching Up with Jack

Thanks to Catching Up with Jack for powering this work and standing with families, we are tackling a major barrier to discovering new treatments for pediatric brain tumors: the lack of accurate models to test drugs before they reach children. This gap leaves families, especially those facing aggressive diagnoses like diffuse midline gliomas or high-risk medulloblastomas with very limited treatment options and devastatingly poor survival rates.

The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation is funding a project that offers a bold solution: patient-derived organoids (PDOs). These “mini-tumors,” grown directly from a child’s tumor tissue, enable researchers to quickly and accurately test how different drugs and radiation therapies might work. Unlike traditional cell line models which often fail and take months to establish, these PDOs can generate results in just weeks while preserving the essential features of the original tumor resulting in actionable insights potentially for clinical implementations in real time.

By supporting this project, PBTF is investing in a game-changing platform that has the potential to transform how we discover and deliver treatments for children with brain tumors. This initiative will establish a systematic PDO program across pediatric brain tumor types, laying the groundwork for rapid, personalized, and more effective therapies.This is exactly why PBTF exists: to close research gaps, accelerate innovation, and bring real hope for better outcomes to children and families facing brain tumors.