Hyundai Hope On Wheels awards $2m research grant for Project:EveryChild

This marks Hyundai’s latest move in supporting the scientific community’s efforts to improve cure rates, diminish acute toxicity from treatments and minimize the risk for late effects for all children battling cancer. As a part of Project:EveryChild, Hyundai’s funds will help in the collection of biospecimens from children with cancer at COG institutions around the country.

These specimens will then be stored at the Hyundai COG Biorepository. The biorepository functions as a massive database of pediatric cancer specimens that provide doctors the ability to request and access thousands of cancer specimens and previous research like never before.

Cancer is still the leading cause of death from disease for children in the U.S. There are more than 100 different kinds of cancer that occur in children, and for most of these cancers, the causes are unknown.

That is why the Children’s Oncology Group, the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to childhood and adolescent cancer research, is leading Project:EveryChild’s unprecedented research effort with its more than 200 children’s hospitals, universities, and cancer centers.

Once the biospecimens (tumor tissue) from each child are stored at the Hyundai Hope On Wheels COG Biorepository, the specimens will then be able to be studied by leading laboratories around the world, accelerating discoveries that will lead to new and better treatments.

Project:EveryChild will provide doctors and researchers with unprecedented, convenient access to thousands of samples and laboratory findings, allowing immense progress to be made in diagnosing and treating current children’s diagnoses.

Hyundai Motor America president and CEO and Hyundai Hope On Wheels board member Dave Zuchowski noted that over the last 16 years the company has been committed to reaching a day when no child will have to face cancer, and supporting COG’s Project:EveryChild is another big step in that direction.

"With the ability to study every child’s type of cancer, researchers will be able to more effectively collaborate and develop new and better treatments. And that’s something that all of us at Hyundai are extremely excited and passionate about," Zuchowski added.

Hyundai Hope On Wheels, in the fight against pediatric cancer since 1998, is committed to funding innovative research at COG member institutions and creating public awareness for pediatric cancer. Hope On Wheels will officially launch its 2014 program on April 17 in New York City, where it will announce the winners of its grants programs.