Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) awarded MD Anderson Cancer Center a $1.1M Project Grant effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2030, under the Military Medical Research and Development program (CFDA 12.420). The grant supports the development of preclinical and clinical digital twins of Ewing sarcoma (ES) and desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) through a collaborative initiative involving academic institutions, pharmaceutical partners, and patient advocacy organizations. This joint effort aims to computationally model investigational therapeutic agents and establish prioritization frameworks for advancing the most promising candidates into clinical investigation, thereby accelerating the translation of basic research findings into clinical applications for these rare pediatric malignancies.

The deliverables under this award include the creation of validated digital twin models integrating multi-institutional data and expertise, predictive computational frameworks for agent efficacy assessment, and documented prioritization protocols for clinical trial selection. By leveraging a consortium approach combining academia, industry, and patient stakeholder perspectives, this research initiative is designed to reduce the time and resource burden associated with traditional drug development pathways while improving the likelihood of successful clinical outcomes for ES and DSRCT patient populations.