Medical Research
Medical Research
Until now, there are no known causes of brain tumors and little complete/accurate data on PLGAs. In May 2005, families associated with PLGA Foundation and fightjpa.org convened a group of leading researchers and expert clinicians at the first ever JPA Workshop.
Their common goal was to identify new, non-toxic, non-invasive treatments, with no side effects or impairments, and a cure for those patients who live with JPA residing in critical, life-threatening locations in the brain. Defining a scientific agenda, strategy and plan for understanding these tumors was needed to provide the foundation for investigations of the causes for PLGA tumors. Armed with this information, these families, along with the PLGA Foundation, funded 7 cutting edge research projects AND launched the first dedicated PLGA Research program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
According to Dr. Mark Kieran, Director Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, "Dramatic advances in our capacity to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancers have brought us to a moment when scientific discovery and technology have converged to turn the tide in our fight against these diseases. YET, even with medicine's many advances, low-grade astrocytomas remain largely under researched and under funded, with treatments unchanged for 20 years. Little is know about low-grade gliomas (LGG) as attention and funding focused on these types of tumors has lagged behind that of high-grade gliomas. Without funding, there is no research. Without research, there is little hope for children diagnosed with PLGA."
PLGA Foundation(formerly fightjpa.org) families and friends have successfully raised more than $6 million in the past 3 years (with committments for another $3 million over the course of the next 2 years) to make cutting edge PLGA research possible.
The PLGA Foundation welcomes cutting-edge PLGA studies from ANY medical institution, both national and international. While there is no formal request for proposal protocol at this time, interested scientists and physicians may contact the PLGA Foundation (contact@fightplga.org) with a letter of interest at any time. Grants are distributed year round.
The time for generating PLGA specific research studies is now. With new scientific advances, experts believe we can find more effective therapies for PLGAs.
To help fund more PLGA research, please donate to the PLGA Foundation.