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Christina Renna Foundation raises $20,000 for pediatric cancer research at CSHL

Christina Renna Foundation
Philip Renna presents a check for $20,000 to Dr. Linda Van Aelst on behalf the Board of Directors of the Christina Renna Foundation.
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Foundation started by Long Island family raises funds for CSHL at sixth annual Angel’s Wish Gala

Cold Spring Harbor, NY — The Christina Renna Foundation raised $20,000 at their sixth annual Angel’s Wish Gala on January 11, 2013. The funds will be used to support cancer research in the laboratory of Dr. Linda Van Aelst at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).

The Christina Renna Foundation was established in honor of Christina Renna, a Long Island teenager who died of soft tissue cancer in January 2007. The Foundation is dedicated to supporting children’s cancer research and furthering awareness and education through the support of cancer groups and outreach programs for the direct support of those in need.

“Now more than ever, the funding of scientific research is critical to advancing our knowledge of how to fight pediatric cancers,” said Philip Renna, Christina’s father and director of the Foundation, who has been a CSHL employee over three decades. “There is nowhere in the world more prepared to do this work than Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and this is why we are proud to support the ongoing work of Dr. Linda Van Aelst.”

Dr. Van Aelst holds a Ph.D. from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in molecular biology, and performs research on several diseases including cancer and neuropathologies. Her cancer research specifically focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular underpinnings of medulloblastomas, which arise in the cerebellum and can spread along the spine. They are the most common type of primary brain tumors affecting children. “I would like to thank the Christina Renna Foundation for supporting my research work at CSHL,” said Dr. Van Aelst.

For more information about the Christina Renna Foundation, visit www.crf4acure.org

Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455

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About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,000 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program annually hosts more than 12,000 scientists. The Laboratory’s education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and the DNA Learning Center with programs for middle, high school, and undergraduate students and teachers. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu