The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation provided its first research grant of $250,000 to the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research on June 25.
The grant money will be used to purchase robotic equipment to start a High Throughput Screening lab that will help researchers discover new drugs to treat pediatric cancers. The robotics used in High Throughput Screening can accomplish in three days what a human would need three to four years to accomplish.
The Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research was established in 2007 at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children to discover targeted drugs for pediatric cancers. More than 19,000 children will be diagnosed with pediatric cancer this year.
“We will never stop fighting to find cures for pediatric cancers and, in the shorter-term, improved chemotherapeutic treatments,” said Alapocas resident Joe McDonough, Andrew’s dad. “Our family is suffering the greatest tragedy of losing our 14 year old son and brother, Andrew, and we pray for the day when families do not have to deal with these insidious diseases.”
