Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation funds 12 pediatric cancer innovation grants

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation is funding 12 new two-year Innovation Grants in 2026 to push high-risk pediatric cancer research forward. The awards back projects aimed at better diagnosis, treatment resistance and new therapies across multiple childhood cancers.

Why it matters: - Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation is backing research that could change how childhood cancers are understood, detected and treated. - The 12 grants are designed for bold, high-risk ideas that might lead to the next major breakthroughs for children with cancer. - The work targets hard problems such as treatment resistance, early detection and tumor vulnerabilities. - Childhood cancer research remains underfunded at the federal level in the U.S. compared with adult cancers.

What happened: - Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation announced funding for 12 new Innovation Grants in 2026. - The projects run for two years. - The foundation said it has funded nearly 290 Innovation grants since 2006. - The full list of awardees spans pediatric brain tumors, leukemia, neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, thyroid cancer and general pediatric cancer.

The details: - Robbie Majzner, MD, received the World Gold Council Innovation Grant for work on new strategies to treat neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial solid tumor in children. - Nathan Singh, PhD, received support for work on redesigning the molecular components that guide CAR T-cell responses in leukemia. - Singh said POST support earlier in his career helped him spend two years in Steve Grupp’s lab at CHOP and learn how to design CARs and engineer T cells. - Singh also worked in the Grupp Lab when the first pediatric patient, Emily Whitehead, was treated in a landmark CAR T-cell therapy trial. - CAR T-cell therapy has improved outcomes for some children with leukemia, but relapse still occurs when engineered immune cells lose effectiveness over time. - Singh’s Innovation Grant aims to make CAR T cells more durable and better able to stop relapse. - Other projects include minimally invasive diagnostic and relapse-detection assays, single-cell and spatial multi-omics for primary CNS germ cell tumors, and studies of tumor-immune interactions in several pediatric cancers. - The awardees and project titles are: Robbie Majzner, G-TACs: A novel platform for ALK inhibition in neuroblastoma; James Rutka, Exploiting Metabolic Convergence in Pediatric Leptomeningeal Metastasis; Nathan Singh, Enhancing CAR function using chemistry-informed protein design; Brian Crompton, Developing minimally invasive diagnostic and relapse detection assays for pediatric cancers; Anna Nam, Elucidating Primary CNS Germ Cell Tumors via Single Cell and Spatial Multi-omics; Xi Huang, Targeting oncoregulon-licensed neuron-tumor interaction in medulloblastoma; David Gutmann, Decoupling Pediatric Brain Tumor Neuronal Dependencies; Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, Modulating the immune response and enhancing DNA damage in Ewing sarcoma by inhibiting ENPP1; Nicolas Llosa, Harnessing Tertiary Lymphoid Structures to Reprogram the Immune Microenvironment in Rhabdomyosarcoma; Vivian Weiss, Mechanisms and Targeted Therapies for Squamous Transformation in Pediatric Diffuse Sclerosing Variant of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma; Tanja Gruber, Neoantigen-specific T cells for CBFA2T3-GLIS2 driven pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia; and David Langenau, Therapeutic targeting of polyploid giant cancer cells and the cGAS/STING/Interferon pathway in rhabdomyosarcoma. - Since its inception, ALSF has raised more than $300 million and funded over 1,500 medical research grants in North America and Europe. - The foundation grew out of Alexandra “Alex” Scott’s lemonade stand, which began when she was 4 and fighting cancer. - By the time Alex Scott died at age 8, she had raised $1 million. - The foundation says it is now the largest independent childhood cancer charity in the U.S. and funds pediatric cancer research and family support programs worldwide. - More information is available at AlexsLemonade.org.

Between the lines: - The grant portfolio shows ALSF favoring ideas that are not yet proven but could unlock new platforms, tools and therapies if they work. - The mix of early-career support and follow-on funding suggests the foundation is trying to keep promising researchers in the pediatric cancer field. - Several projects focus on the tumor microenvironment and immune response, signaling continued interest in immunotherapy and precision medicine.

What's next: - Each team will use the two-year awards to test whether its idea can move from concept toward lab validation. - Results from these projects could shape future pediatric cancer treatment strategies and set up larger studies or additional funding rounds. - ALSF is expected to continue using Innovation Grants to support high-risk pediatric cancer research.