Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors
/Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors
OVERVIEW: This funder supports medical and scientific research to find a cure for pediatric brain and spinal tumors. It was established by the mother of a child who lost his life to this disease.
IP TAKE: The Matthew Larson Foundation’s grantmaking is competitive; in a recent year, four grants went to researchers working at top-ranked universities and hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. The foundation opens its application process each fall, accepting letters of inquiry and inviting selected applicants to submit full proposals. Its average grant size is $100,000.
PROFILE: The Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors (MLF) is named after a boy who was diagnosed with the rare Choroid Plexus Carcinoma in 2002 at the age of 2. The foundation was established by his mother in 2006 before he passed away in 2007 at the age of 6. The foundation now works “to financially support families living with pediatric brain tumors and to fund research in the hopes of finding a cure.” MLF now offers both research grants and family assistance funding.
MLF’s Research Grants broadly fund “studies on the treatment and cure of pediatric brain and spinal tumors.” Previous recipients include Kristopher Bosse at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, for “GPC2 as an immunotherapeutic target in medulloblastoma and other pediatric tumors,” Praveen Raju at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, for “radiosensitization of Medulloblastoma via ATF5 Inhibition,” and Chao Lu at Columbia University Medical Center, for “targeting the Epigenome of Pediatric Ependymoma.”
For parents and guardians of children suffering from rare brain tumors, MLF offers a Family Assistance Program, which “gives direct financial assistance to families regardless of their socio-economic status, the type of brain tumor (malignant or benign) or the progress of the disease.” This generous program will compensate families for various bills and expensive, including but not limited to “rent, mortgage,” “lodging for treatments,” “car payments,” and “utilities.” Grantseekers must contact their hospital’s social services representative for application information, as the foundation does not accept applications for this program directly.
MLF awards grants of up to $100,000 for a one-year period. In a recent year, its grantmaking totaled $615,000. Grantseekers may review MLF’s Past Grants to see what kind of projects it funds.
The foundation generally releases application guidelines in the Fall of each year. Selected applicants are invited to send a full application and full applications are evaluated by independent peer reviewers to assess the significance, level of innovation and feasibility of the research proposed. Inquiries may be directed to the foundation via email or telephone at 201-410-2751.
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