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Vitanza Lab

The goal of the Vitanza Lab is to find new treatments that are both safe and curative for high-grade, aggressive pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors, such as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma H3 K27M-altered (DMG), and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT). Our central efforts include:

  • Generating new central nervous system (CNS) tumor laboratory models, including treatment-naïve DIPG/DMG models derived from patient biopsies and autopsy-derived models made possible through generous donations from patients and families across the country.
  • Identifying biologic and epigenetic vulnerabilities in DIPG/DMG so that we can advance the best molecularly-targeted drugs to kill tumor cells.
  • Designing and deploying chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, an immunotherapy that can be delivered directly into the brain for highly-specific targeted tumor killing – such as on our BrainChild clinical trials.

Support Our Lab

If you would like to donate to the Vitanza Lab, please choose “Other” and type in “Vitanza Lab” when asked where you want your gift to go. Donate today.

Contact the Vitanza Lab

Nicholas A Vitanza, MD

For questions or inquiries,
email: [email protected]
telephone: 206-884-4084

Physical Address

Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Research
B. Wayne Hughes Building 09-148
1920 Terry Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101