Three research grants to strengthen precision medicine for pediatric cancer patients
The Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) has funded three research projects on pediatric cancer in the same funding round—all of them including researchers at St. Anna CCRI. The projects, designed in collaboration with scientists at other Viennese and German institutions, aim to improve risk prediction and relapse monitoring in pediatric cancer patients, as well as identifying new personalized treatment approaches. Two of the projects are coordinated by St. Anna CCRI researchers.
In Simple Terms
– PREVISE will develop a new liquid biopsy test to monitor relapse in patients with Wilms tumor.
– RISK will study why some patients with cancer-predisposing mutations develop cancer while others don’t.
– FIREBACC will identify genetic weaknesses that make pediatric cancers vulnerable to existing drugs.
The Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) has funded three innovative projects in pediatric cancer research in its 2025 Life Sciences call for Precision Medicine. The ambitious projects stem from collaborations between researchers at St. Anna CCRI and other Viennese and German institutions. Two of the projects will be coordinated by CCRI Principal Investigators (PI) Florian Halbritter and George Cresswell. Scientific Director Sabine Taschner-Mandl and PI Davide Seruggia participate as co-principal investigators. All three projects are tightly integrated with St. Anna CCRI’s focus on translating experimental discoveries into clinical applications that benefit children and adolescents with cancer.
PREVISE – Blood testing to monitor Wilms tumor relapse
Wilms tumor is the most common kidney cancer in children. In this cancer type, relapse is often associated with much lower survival rates but still hard to predict. The PREVISE project aims to develop a simple blood test to help doctors identify which patients are likely to relapse. Using advanced DNA sequencing technology, the researchers, led by George Cresswell at St. Anna CCRI and including Sabine Taschner-Mandl (St. Anna CCRI) and Jenny Wegert (Uniklinikum Würzburg), will establish highly sensitive assays to detect tumor-derived circulating DNA in blood. This approach, known as liquid biopsy, promises a less invasive and more sensitive method to assess relapse risk in patients with Wilms tumor.
The tool will be tested to monitor patients in Germany and Austria. If successful, the test could be rapidly applied clinically across Europe to guide patient-specific relapse prediction and inform patient-tailored treatment.
“Our project aims to significantly advance risk assessment in patients with Wilms tumor, a key step for choosing better treatments and improving disease outcomes,” says George Cresswell.
RISK – Understanding and preventing cancer predisposition
At least 10% of pediatric cancers are linked to an underlying genetic predisposition. However, we still do not understand why some children carrying such predisposing mutations develop cancer while others don’t. The RISK project, led by Florian Halbritter (St. Anna CCRI) and including Davide Seruggia (St. Anna CCRI) and Juliane Winkler (Medical University of Vienna), aims to answer this long-standing question. Using engineered stem cells, the team will grow kidney organoids in the lab to study how gene regulation influences tumor development. Combining genetic screens, single-cell multi-omics, and integrative bioinformatics, the team will pinpoint which factors contribute to turning predisposition into cancer.
Their findings could help doctors make better decisions about which children with cancer predisposition syndromes need close monitoring or early treatment—and which don’t. Their work could reduce unnecessary intervention and improve outcomes for pediatric cancer patients.
“This ambitious project will shed light into the black box between genetic predisposition and tumor manifestation,” says Florian Halbritter.
FIREBACC – Identifying druggable weaknesses in pediatric cancers
Pediatric cancers are usually driven by single genetic alterations that alter normal development, making cells grow uncontrollably. Therapies targeting these cancer-driving alterations can work in some cases but are unfeasible in others. The FIREBACC project, led by Johannes Zuber (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, IMP), together with Sabine Taschner-Mandl (St. Anna CCRI) together with and Anna Obenauf (IMP), takes a different approach: the researchers will test which genes make cancer cells sensitive or resistant to existing drugs. By combining precision diagnostics, cutting-edge genetic screenings and image-based drug-sensitivity profiling they aim to identify mutations that make cancer cells vulnerable to existing therapies. Their findings could help doctors personalize treatment, targeting these unique weaknesses to improve treatment outcomes.
“FIREBACC aims to extend the focus of precision medicine beyond cancer driver mutations, which are often not directly druggable,” Zuber explains. “Instead, we look at mutations that determine how cancer cells respond to existing therapies,” adds Sabine Taschner-Mandl, Scientific Director at St. Anna CCRI. “By building a comprehensive map of these mutation-drug interactions, we can search patient genomes for matching patterns and identify those who are most likely to benefit from specific treatments already available.”