Photo courtesy of National Cancer Institute.
Therapeutic highlight: MEK inhibitor approved!
After several years of innovative preclinical research and intensive clinical study, selumetinib was granted FDA approval for use in the treatment of inoperable plexiform neurofibromas. Congratulations to the team of researchers, clinicians, funders, and patient advocates who have worked tirelessly to get to this point! Read more in the press releases from CTF, NTAP and NCI.
Gilbert Family Foundation joins the NF-OSI
The Gilbert Family Foundation (GFF) is a private nonprofit foundation founded by philanthropists Dan and Jennifer Gilbert to, among other goals, accelerate a cure for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). GFF and its scientific awardees in the GFF Gene Therapy Initiative and the GFF Vision Restoration Initiative have committed to sharing data through the NF Data Portal over the coming years. Learn more about the exciting work the GFF is funding by visiting the NF Data Portal and the Gilbert NF Research Portfolio page.
New funding and job opportunities!
FY20 brings several new grant opportunities! The CDMRP Neurofibromatosis Research Program has several open grants for exploratory research, early stage researchers, new investigators, and clinical programs; LOIs are due on June 25. Moving to job opportunities: The Brosseau lab at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec is looking for a PhD student to help #endNF! Learn more about the position today!
New NF1 tumor data released from the nerve sheath tumor bank to accelerate NF1 research!
The Johns Hopkins NF1 Biospecimen repository, led by Dr. Christine Pratilas, has published a preprint describing a comprehensive dataset of gene expression and de-identified genomic variant data from NF1 tumor samples, tumor-derived cell lines, and xenografts. Learn more about this study and learn how to access the data by visiting the NF Data Portal
