The Children's Tumor Foundation is committed to driving research aimed at preventing, reversing, or managing neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and all types of schwannomatosis (SWN), including NF2-related schwannomatosis. As the premier non-governmental funder of NF research in the US, it primarily supports early-career researchers and early-stage research in these fields, bridging the gap to substantial governmental or industrial funding.
The Drug Discovery Initiative (DDI) by The Children's Tumor Foundation aims to boost neurofibromatosis (NF) drug discovery through funding projects focused on exploring novel therapies or repurposing existing ones, and validating new NF targets. The grants target early-stage testing of therapeutic compounds, particularly shelved compounds with previous clinical success but not currently under development, and the validation of novel or potentially relevant NF targets. Proposals should be concise, aimed at generating the preliminary data necessary for accelerating drug discovery progress, and can include mining of existing datasets and target validation experiments rooted in direct biochemical methods or genetic interactions.