Neuroblastoma's shot at $50 million

I received an email late last night from Gavin Lindberg. It was a press release from the DOD (Department of Defense) announcing its Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) funding opportunities for 2010. The announcement stated that the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) Defense Appropriations Act provided $50 million to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP).

The vision of the PRMRP is to identify and fund the best medical research to protect and support warfighters, veterans, and all beneficiaries and to eradicate diseases that impact these populations. The PRMRP challenges the scientific and clinical communities to address one of the FY10 congressionally directed topic areas with original ideas that foster new directions in basic science and translational research; novel product development leading to improved therapeutic or diagnostic tools, or improvements in clinical policies/guidelines; or clinical trials that address an immediate clinical need.

How does this impact neuroblastoma, you ask?

Well, for the second year in a row, neuroblastoma was selected as one of the 19 FY10 PRMRP Congressionally Directed Topic Areas. This means neuroblastoma has its shot at grabbing its chunk of $50 million dollars of research dough.

This is no small feat and while it is no guarantee of neuroblastoma funding it is an incredible opportunity for researchers studying neuroblastoma. It is yet another alternative for funding and, in a world with a weak economy and ever-shrinking funding pools, this is a huge coup for our researchers.

This opportunity is due in no small part to the work of another father of a child with neuroblastoma. While I still do not completely understand exactly what he does in Washington for a living, I do know that it was due to a large part of his effort that neuroblastoma was included in this exclusive list.

Thank you Gavin.

We all have a little bit more purpose today thanks to you.