The Hyundai Hope on Wheels foundation has awarded a Hyundai Hope Scholar Award to Paul Sondel, MD, PhD, professor and research director in the Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplant, and Amy Erbe-Gurel, PhD, assistant professor in that division and member of the Sondel Research Group. The two-year, $400,000 grant will support their research project, “Pharmacokinetics-Pharmacodynamics of anti-GD2/B7-H3 bispecific mAb to optimize in vivo anti-tumor efficacy.” The research will use mice to investigate how to best deliver a bispecific antibody treatment developed in Sondel’s lab, with the goal of optimizing its effectiveness against tumors. The hope is that it will be applicable to patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Current similar treatments cause significant neuropathic pain in patients. To mitigate pain, the treatments must be administered to patients with narcotics and other pain medications, often in the hospital and at doses that may be too low to be effective against tumors. The new treatment has shown promise in mice; it does not cause the nerve pain associated with other treatments, and so could potentially be given in higher doses. The research project will begin in December of this year and continue for two years.