Fellowship
The CERN fellowship provides support for two years of funding to promising postdoctoral researchers whose focus is on ependymoma research. Read about our fellows research.
Kendra Maass
Recipient of the 2022 CERN and Robert Connor Dawes Scientific Fellowship awarded by the National Brain Tumor Society
This fellowship award allows Maass to accurately study the mass transfer of brain tumor cells in children. For the project, Maass is investigating specific factors in the formation, release and uptake of so-called vesicles. Research efforts will focus on unraveling the mechanistic dependencies of ependymoma tumor cells on extracellular vesicle pathways.
Kendra Maass conducts her research under the leadership of pediatric oncologist Kristian Pajtler from Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and is the recipient of the 2022 CERN and Robert Connor Dawes Scientific Fellowship
Chan Chung
Recipient of the 2020 CERN and Robert Connor Dawes Scientific Fellowship awareded by the National Brain Tumor Society
Chan Chung, Ph.D., is focusing on targeting childhood ependymoma by interrupting metabolic pathways, specifically in posterior fossa ependymomas (PFA). The ultimate outcome is to better define the protein EZHIP to drive the growth and biology of PFA ependymoma cells. This work is based on his discovery of a metabolic vulnerability driven by EZHIP in PFA ependymomas.
Dr. Chung is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, under the leadership of assistant professor Sriram Venneti, M.D., Ph.D and is the recipient of the 2020 CERN and Robert Connor Dawes Scientific Fellowship.
Published Research
Kristian Pajtler
Recipient of the 2018-2019 CERN Scientific Ependymoma Fellowship
To better understand ependymoma, pediatric neuro-oncologist Kristian Pajtler, M.D., is studying its molecular data and classifying it. His aim is to reduce debilitating treatment side effects in patients with less aggressive ependymoma subtypes and develop personalized treatments to increase the chance of survival for patients with the most aggressive subtypes.
Dr. Pajtler is a physician scientist and clinical fellow at the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital, and Heidelberg University in Germany under the leadership of pediatric neuro-oncologist Stefan Pfister, M.D.
Published Research
- Read Dr. Pajtler's Full Summary Report
- YAP1 Subgroup Supratentorial Ependymoma Requires TEAD and Nuclear Factor I-Mediated Transcriptional Programmes for Tumorigenesis
- MYCN Amplification Drives an Aggressive Form of Spinal Ependymoma
- Molecular Heterogeneity and CXorf67 Alterations in Posterior Fossa Group A (PFA) Ependymomas
Claire King
Recipient of the 2018-2019 CERN and Robert Connor Dawes Scientific Fellowship
In October 2016, Claire King, Ph.D., research associate at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge, began her research project to investigate the genetic fusion that drives the most aggressive subtype of supratentorial, or forebrain, ependymoma. The fusion is between two genes, C11orf95 and RELA.
Her research aims to determine the role of C11orf95 in normal development and the role of C11orf95-RELA in the initiation and progression of ependymoma. Dr. King’s research is under the leadership of neuro-oncologist Richard Gilbertson, M.D.
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Vijay Ramaswamy
Recipient of the 2015-2016 CERN Scientific Ependymoma Fellowship
Neuro-oncologist Vijay Ramaswamy, M.D., Ph.D., is fascinated with the biology of ependymoma. His research focuses on finding new therapies for children with ependymoma to improve survival. He practices at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.
In 2016, he completed the largest-ever study analyzing 820 posterior fossa ependymoma cases. The study classified the molecular biology of the tumors and reviewed their clinical information.
In February 2019, he helped lead the molecular profiling of samples from a closed Children’s Oncology Group study, which is the first study to incorporate biology into a prospective clinical trial evaluating the outcome of children with ependymoma.
Published Research
- Therapeutic Impact of Cytoreductive Surgery and Irradiation of Posterior Fossa Ependymoma in the Molecular Era: A Retrospective Multicohort Analysis
- Conformal Radiation Therapy for Pediatric Ependymoma, Chemotherapy for Incompletely Resected Ependymoma, and Observation for Completely Resected, Supratentorial Ependymoma