Duke gets funds for brain tumor research

DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University on Wednesday announced the receipt of a $6 million grant for research into pediatric brain tumors.

The funds from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF) are in addition to a $6 million grant used in 2003 to create the PBTF Institute at Duke, President Richard H. Brodhead and Chancellor for Health Affairs Victor J. Dzau, M.D., said.

PBTF co-founders Mike and Dianne Traynor presented the new grant at Duke's Levine Science Research Center hours before a steam explosion at the building that killed one worker.

Since the founding of the institute, Duke researchers have worked on developing gene-based therapies, vaccines and other novel treatments for common childhood brain tumors.

Researchers at Duke share their results with their counterparts at the foundation's three other institutes, housed at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles; the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada; and the University of California, San Francisco.