Image from Feng Lab

Grant Awards

Feng Lab Awarded Grants from St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation, to Fund Students Studying Pediatric Cancer

Hui Feng, MD, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology, physiology & biophysics, has been awarded grants from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation to support Boston University students studying pediatric cancer.

The Summer Fellows Grants from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a competitive program supporting early-career scientists working to advance childhood cancer research. In total, the Foundation will award $120,000 in Summer Fellow Grants, supporting medical and undergraduate students as they conduct pediatric oncology research in labs across the country this summer. Yile Wu, a undergraduate student in the Feng lab majoring in biochemistry & molecular biology, was the 2025 summer fellow, while Marcelo Villafuerte, an undergraduate student in the lab majoring in biomedical engineering, received the 2026 Summer Fellowship. The Pediatric Oncology Training Program (POST) sponsored by the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation exposes undergraduate, graduate and medical students to pediatric oncology research. Steven Dang, a biochemistry & molecular biology, received the POST award in 2025. Aaranie Srikanthan, a biology major in the Feng lab, will study neuroblastoma this summer supported by the POST award.

It is my distinct honor and pleasure to partner with the foundations to train these bright students as our future pediatric oncologists and researchers.

Hui Feng, MD, PhD

The Feng Lab focuses on translational research that leads to novel therapeutics development for MYC/MYCN-driven cancers, particularly for pediatric leukemia and neuroblastoma. The research strategy of the laboratory is toleverage the genetic, imaging, and pharmacological capacities of the zebrafish models of cancer together with human cancer studies for the discovery of effective and specific targets and leads. The long-term goal of their research is to improve management and treatment of aggressive and metastatic cancers. The use of developing zebrafish will enable the selection of the therapeutic strategies that are less toxic for children who also undergo rapid development.

Both the Summer Fellows Grants and the Pediatric Oncology Training Program (POST) help launch the next generation of pediatric cancer researchers at a pivotal stage, accelerating work that could reshape how children are diagnosed, treated and protected from the long-term effects of therapy. These grants provide aspiring physicians and scientists with hands-on experience in childhood cancer research. “It is my distinct honor and pleasure to partner with the foundations to train these bright students as our future pediatric oncologists and researchers,” says Feng.