Pediatric oncology and hematology research provides opportunities for patients to participate in clinical trials and clinicians and basic scientists to seek new discoveries.

Investigators in the Johns Hopkins All Children's Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute have a strong focus on precision medicine through clinical and translational research, health informatics and molecular determinants of chronic and acute childhood illness. In 2018, three grant-funded basic scientists with primary appointments in the Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute joined the faculty. They are developing cancer-focused programs related to RNA biology, tumor microenvironment and immune-oncology, and the malfunction and malformation of blood vessels, seeking patterns that can lead to treatments and cures.

Our clinicians in both St. Petersburg and Baltimore also are actively engaged in the Children’s Oncology Group, the Sunshine Project—led by Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute member Damon Reed, M.D.—and other national and regional research consortia.

Among more than 100 active trials:

• A $717,000 National Cancer Institute innovation grant in 2017 to study the use of saliva, instead of plasma, to monitor for potential chemotherapy toxicity. This less invasive way to track the presence of chemotherapy agents in the bloodstream could help us understand short- and long-term side effects of chemotherapy in children without the need for continuous blood draws. The study unites investigators in St. Petersburg and Baltimore, working together to advance the field of biorepository science.
• The Prospective Multicenter Evaluation of Duration of Therapy for Thrombosis in Children (the Kids-DOTT Trial), a randomized, controlled and blinded phase III clinical trial that includes nearly 40 major pediatric centers worldwide and is coordinated at Johns Hopkins All Children’s.