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University of Oxford Images / John Cairns Photography
The announcement is being made ahead of the start of September which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Blood Cancer Awareness Month. It also coincides with what would have been Kaiya Patel’s 13th birthday on 2nd September, and in whose memory the Foundation has been set up.
Kaiya was just five years old when she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive leukaemia. Despite her extraordinary resilience and a treatment journey that inspired thousands, Kaiya succumbed to her condition in January 2019. Her parents established The Kaiya Foundation in her memory, determined to accelerate research and improve outcomes for children facing similar devastating diagnoses.
Dr Neil and Professor Roy are renowned experts in paediatric leukaemia and stem cell biology, and their research will seek to uncover why normal blood cells undergo malignant transformation into aggressive forms of leukaemia (namely TCF3-HLF ALL). By identifying the biological triggers and molecular changes involved, their work seeks to lay the foundation for personalised, targeted therapies for children and young people affected by high-risk subtypes of the disease.
'This research is a vital step forward in understanding how leukaemia originates and evolves at the cellular level,' said Professor Anindita Roy, whose group is based at the Department of Paediatrics and the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford. 'Our goal is not only to detect these changes earlier, but to predict and eventually prevent them - offering new hope to families facing the most aggressive forms of leukaemia.'
Dr Emily Neil added: With the support of The Kaiya Foundation, we have a unique opportunity to move beyond standard treatments and create therapies that are tailored to the genetic and molecular profile of each patient's disease.'
Read the full story on the University of Oxford website.