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Research

The Darby Children's Research Institute (DCRI) is the largest and most comprehensive pediatric research facility in the Carolinas. Its mission is to improve the lives of children, their families and communities by conducting high quality children’s research, training superior physicians and scientists, and fostering innovation through the sciences of discovery and application. The 122,000 ft. seven-story building has 150 state-of-the-art laboratory modules providing bench space and core facilities for researchers in 11 multidisciplinary programs, representing many departments and colleges at MUSC. The open lab design and shared research space foster interaction, communication, and collaboration. Enclosed walkways connecting every floor between the DCRI and the adjoining Basic Sciences Building promote intra- and inter-programmatic synergies, along with sharing of high technology resources.

Overall goals of the DCRI

  • Empower talented scientists
  • Promote collaboration
  • Enable established and new investigators
  • Increase and diversify funding for pediatric research
  • Optimize use of research space.

The DCRI currently houses basic and translational investigators in cardiobiology, neurosciences, cancer biology, pharmacogenetics, addiction research, pulmonary biology, proteomics, vitamin D metabolism, osteoclast biology, autoimmune and rheumatic diseases, and renal biology.

The Sickle Cell Center at MUSC Children's Health is working closely with our local foundations and national organizations to raise awareness and advocacy for sickle cell disease as well as to improve funding for this underserved condition. We often have many clinical trial options available for our patients.

The Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) at the Medial University of South Carolina is the largest academic cancer center in South Carolina. It is the state's only National Cancer Institute (NCI) - designated cancer center and one of 73 in the U.S. As the state’s foremost cancer treatment and research center, the Hollings Cancer Center unites more than 200 experts in treatment, research, education, prevention and control, and outreach to address South Carolina’s significant cancer problem. The center’s resources extend throughout South Carolina via partnerships with other healthcare organizations, ensuring that all patients in the state have access to our innovative and compassionate care. For the 35,000 South Carolinians who will be diagnosed with cancer this year, the Hollings Cancer Center is leading the way in changing what is possible in cancer care. Hollings' three research programs center around cancer biology and immunology, developmental cancer therapeutics and cancer control. Hollings supports shared resources that are efficient, cost-effective and provide the latest industry standards for enhanced scientific productivity.

The SCTR SUCCESS Center, in collaboration with the Office of the Associate Provost for Research, has developed a new online guide, the “Research Toolkit,” to assist MUSC research personnel in navigating the research enterprise. The Toolkit addresses the steps involved with submitting, conducting, closing and disseminating results of a research study, and includes links to institutional, state, and federal resources and regulations.

MUSC joins 39 previously funded academic medical research institutions within a national network working together to reduce the time it takes to turn laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, to engage communities in clinical research efforts, and to train the next generation of researchers. MUSC has been awarded the coveted Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Center for Research Resources, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division is affiliated with the Hollings Cancer Center, the state’s only NCI designated cancer facility. The Medical University of South Carolina stem cell transplant program is among the country’s most active transplant centers and is fully accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy. Our division, a full member of the Children’s Oncology Group, has the only pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship, bone marrow transplant program and pediatric cancer research lab in South Carolina. The division offers access to early phase and precision medicine trials though membership in the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium. The division also participates in trials through the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Consortium and the North American Consortium for Histiocytosis. We employ a team approach with pediatric oncologists and nurse practitioners, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pharmacists, dietitians and Child Life staff providing comprehensive care for patients and their families. Many of our primary nurses are CPON certified. The MUSC academic faculty includes leading experts from multiple specialties and sub-specialties, including pediatric orthopedic oncologic surgery and pediatric neuro-oncology. Our collaborative program brings all the needed expertise to the patient’s side in a single coordinated effort. The program was recognized as #44 in pediatric cancer by US News & World Report in 2021.

Clinical Trials

For more information, or to see if you are eligible for a clinical trial today contact Abigail Moore at mooreabi@musc.edu or Shanta Salzer at salzers@musc.edu.

Some of the current trials open for enrollment in South Carolina and only available at Medical University of South Carolina include:

  • NMTRC 012: PEDS-PLAN - Pediatric Precision Laboratory Advanced Neuroblastoma Therapy. A Pilot Study Using Molecular-Guided Therapy along with Induction Chemotherapy for Subjects with Newly Diagnosed High-Risk Neuroblastoma (NCT02559778)
  • NMTRC 014: NMTT- Neuroblastoma Maintenance Therapy Trial Using Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) (NCT02679144)
  • BMS CA209-908: An Investigational Immunotherapy Study of Nivolumab Monotherapy and Nivolumab in Combination With Ipilimumab in Pediatric Patients With High Grade Primary CNS Malignancies (CheckMate 908) (NCT03130959)
  • ONC-403-001: A Two-Part Study of TB-403 in Pediatric Subjects with Relapsed or Refractory Medulloblastoma, Neuroblastoma, Ewing Sarcoma or Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma (NCT02748135)
  • LCH-IV: International Collaborative Treatment Protocol for Children and Adolescents with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (NCT02205762)
  • A Phase 2, Prospective, Randomized, Open-label Study on the Efficacy of Defibrotide Added to Standard of Care Immunoprophylaxis for the Prevention of Acute Graft-versus-Host-Disease in Adult and Pediatric Patients After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (NCT03339297)
  • A Phase 3, Randomized, Adaptive Study Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of Defibrotide vs Best Supportive Care in the Prevention of Hepatic Veno- Occlusive Disease in Adult and Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (NCT2851407)
  • A Multi Center Pilot Study of Reduced Intensity Conditioning and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation Followed by Targeted Immunotherapy in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with Poor Risk CD30+ Hodgkin Lymphoma (NCT02098512)

Translational Pediatric Oncology Research

As a Principal Investigator in the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders in the Charles P. Darby Children’s Research Institute, Dr. Jacqueline Kraveka’s research focuses on sphingolipid mediated signal transduction in neuroblastoma and pediatric sarcomas and the function and regulation of the enzyme dihydroceramide desaturase in human cancer. The long-term goals of Dr. Kraveka’s research are to develop novel and more effective treatments for pediatric cancers. Dr. Kraveka is actively involved in clinical pediatric research in the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium (BCC) where she is a member of the Executive Board and Scientific Committee, and Children’s Oncology Group (COG) where she is a member of the Neuroblastoma and Health Disparities and Committees. She serves as the Institutional Principal Investigator for COG and BCC clinical trials at MUSC and as such is responsible for the conduct of these trials.