St. Jude Researcher Wins $100,000 Maverick Award for Childhood Leukemia Therapy Breakthrough

Leading Pediatric Researcher Receives Prestigious Cancer Research Grant

Stand Up To Cancer has announced that Caitlin Zebley, MD, PhD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is the recipient of the 2026 SU2C Maverick Early Career Scientist Award. The organization revealed the award on August 6, 2026, recognizing Dr. Zebley’s groundbreaking work in developing therapies for children battling aggressive forms of leukemia. The award carries a research grant of $100,000 to be used over the following 12-month period, providing crucial funding for early-stage investigators whose work shows strong potential for transforming cancer treatment.

The SU2C Maverick Award specifically targets researchers in the early stages of their careers whose work demonstrates a strong likelihood of having a major impact on people with cancer. The winner receives selection each year at the annual SU2C Scientific Summit, joining a distinguished group of innovators pushing the boundaries of cancer research. This recognition provides not only financial support but also tremendous momentum for emerging scientists working to solve some of medicine’s most challenging problems.

“It’s very exciting to win the Maverick Award,” Dr. Zebley said. “For younger investigators, receiving awards and grant funding of this caliber provides tremendous momentum to your career.”

Targeting Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in Children

The funding from the 2026 Maverick Award will support Dr. Zebley’s ongoing research focused on developing effective CAR T-cell therapies for children with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Much of this research has been performed in collaboration with SU2C-funded researcher Benjamin Youngblood, PhD, of the Department of Immunology, and other St. Jude scientists. The collaborative nature of this work underscores the multidisciplinary approach required to tackle complex pediatric cancers that have historically proven difficult to treat.

About 20% of the childhood leukemias diagnosed each year in the United States are AML, with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accounting for most other U.S. leukemia cases. Although not to the same degree as with ALL, outcomes in children with AML have improved substantially over the past several decades, with 65%-70% now living for 5 years or longer. However, the long-term prognosis can be poor for children whose cancer returns after their initial treatment, with multiple factors influencing the therapies that are used and how well they work.

The Challenging Reality of Relapsed AML

Dr. Zebley emphasized the particularly difficult nature of treating children whose AML has returned despite aggressive initial interventions. These young patients often arrive at St. Jude having already undergone extensive treatment protocols, including chemotherapy, radiation, and sometimes multiple rounds of bone marrow transplants. Each successive treatment can weaken the body while the cancer develops resistance to standard therapies, creating an increasingly narrow window for effective intervention.

“We care for many AML patients who have undergone extensive treatment journeys,” Dr. Zebley said. “When they come to us, they may have already received multiple therapies, including bone marrow transplants. It’s an exceptionally challenging disease.”

CAR T-cell therapy-which uses genetically engineered versions of patients’ own T cells-is already a standard treatment for children with B-cell ALL that has returned after their initial treatments. This revolutionary approach has transformed outcomes for many children with ALL, offering hope where traditional therapies had failed. But, to date, CAR T-cell therapy has not worked well in children with AML, presenting a significant gap in treatment options for this aggressive form of leukemia.

Breakthrough Discovery in T-Cell Exhaustion

Dr. Zebley helped discover a way of potentially preventing or reversing a phenomenon called T-cell exhaustion that can limit or altogether undercut CAR T cells’ ability to attack tumors. This exhaustion occurs when engineered immune cells become dysfunctional after prolonged exposure to cancer cells, losing their capacity to mount an effective attack against the disease. Understanding and overcoming this limitation represents a critical breakthrough that could unlock the full potential of CAR T-cell therapy for AML patients.

In a recent collaboration with St. Jude colleagues Swati Naik, MBBS, and Paulina Velasquez, MD, the researchers have been advancing this work toward clinical application. The team’s approach addresses one of the fundamental obstacles that has prevented CAR T-cell therapy from achieving the same success in AML that it has demonstrated in ALL. By maintaining the engineered T cells’ fighting capacity over extended periods, the therapy could finally offer a viable treatment option for children with relapsed or resistant AML.

Implications for Pediatric Cancer Treatment

The significance of this research extends beyond individual patients to the broader landscape of pediatric oncology. AML remains one of the most challenging childhood cancers to treat, particularly when it recurs after initial therapy. Current treatment protocols often involve highly toxic chemotherapy regimens and bone marrow transplantation, both of which carry significant risks and long-term health consequences for young survivors. A successful CAR T-cell therapy for AML would provide a more targeted, potentially less toxic alternative that harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.

The $100,000 award will enable Dr. Zebley’s team to accelerate their research timeline, conduct additional experiments, and potentially move closer to clinical trials. For early-career researchers, this level of funding and recognition can be transformative, providing the resources needed to pursue innovative approaches that might not receive support through traditional funding channels. The Maverick Award’s focus on high-risk, high-reward research encourages scientists to explore unconventional solutions to intractable medical problems.

Looking Ahead at Cancer Immunotherapy

Dr. Zebley’s work represents the cutting edge of cancer immunotherapy, a field that has revolutionized treatment for many cancers over the past decade. By engineering patients’ own immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells, CAR T-cell therapy offers a fundamentally different approach than traditional chemotherapy or radiation. The challenge lies in optimizing these therapies for different cancer types and overcoming the mechanisms that cancers use to evade immune attack.

The research conducted at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital benefits from the institution’s unique model, which combines clinical care with basic research in a collaborative environment. This integration allows discoveries made in the laboratory to move more quickly into clinical testing, potentially benefiting patients sooner. The hospital’s focus on childhood cancers also ensures that the specific biological characteristics of pediatric malignancies receive appropriate attention in therapy development.

As Dr. Zebley’s team continues their work on preventing T-cell exhaustion, the medical community watches with hope that their efforts will yield a breakthrough therapy for children with AML. The collaboration between basic scientists and clinical researchers, supported by organizations like Stand Up To Cancer, exemplifies the ecosystem needed to translate scientific discoveries into life-saving treatments. For the families of children battling AML, this research represents not just scientific progress but the possibility of a future where their children can survive and thrive beyond cancer.