Paediatric strategy forum for medicinal product development of PI3-K, mTOR, AKT and GSK3β inhibitors in children and adolescents with cancer.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) signalling pathway is a crucial path in cancer for cell survival and thus represents an intriguing target for new paediatric anti-cancer drugs. However, the unique clinical toxicities of targeting this pathway (resulting in hyperglycaemia) difficulties combining with chemotherapy, rarity of mutations in childhood tumours and concomitant mutations have resulted in major barriers to clinical translation of these inhibitors in treating both adults and children. Mutations in PIK3CA predict response to PI3-K inhibitors in adult cancers.

The Virtual Child.

We are building the world's first Virtual Child-a computer model of normal and cancerous human development at the level of each individual cell. The Virtual Child will "develop cancer" that we will subject to unlimited virtual clinical trials that pinpoint, predict, and prioritize potential new treatments, bringing forward the day when no child dies of cancer, giving each one the opportunity to lead a full and healthy life.

Advancing childhood cancer research through young investigator and advocate collaboration.

Unlabelled: Cancer advocates and researchers share the same goal of driving science forward to create new therapies to cure more patients. The power of combining cancer researchers and advocates has become of increased importance due to their complementary expertise. Therefore, advocacy is a critical component of grant structures and has become embedded into the Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) applications.