Jakefest

Since 2007, Kiewit has proudly sponsored its annual Jakefest fundraiser benefiting CureSearch for Children's Cancer.

Jakefest was established by Harry and Robin Koenigs to honor and remember their son, Jake. At just five years old, Jake was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. He passed away in 2006 just one month before his 9th birthday.

The Koenigs family knew that more research was needed to ensure that other children with rhabdomyosarcoma and other cancers receive the best care possible. They also wanted to raise awareness for childhood cancer. In 2007 Harry’s employer, Kiewit, turned the company’s annual employee golf outing into what is now the annual Jakefest event.

"When we realized that Jake wasn't going to survive, we wanted to find a way to give back to an organization that was working towards finding a cure. We knew that CureSearch was that organization.”

- Harry Koenigs, Jake's dad

Jakefest Events

New Jersey

June 7, 2025

Registration Now Live!

Boston (Mass Electric)

July 18, 2025

Registration Now Live!

Denver

July 26, 2025

Registration Now Live!

Great Lakes

August 8-9, 2025

Page Coming Soon

Mid-Atlantic

October 3, 2025

Registration Now Live!

Louisiana

October 23, 2025

Registration Now Live!

The Impact of Jakefest

Currently Funding

Catapult Awards | Clinical Trials

Dr. Mohamed Abdelbaki, at Washington University School of Medicine, is conducting a phase I clinical trial using a Natural Killer (NK) cell therapy for children and young adults with recurrent brain tumors. NK cells are immune cells that can recognize and kill cancerous cells and have shown promise in treating several cancers. This trial will be conducted through the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC), making it the first multi-institutional consortium-wide study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intra-tumoral NK cell infusions in children with recurrent brain tumors.

Dr. David Munn, at Augusta University, is conducting an open-label Phase 1b study to test if adding ibrutinib, a cancer-fighting drug, can restore systemic immune activation and functional anti-tumor activity in patients 12 to 25 years old with brain tumors who are highly resistant, actively progressing, and have already become resistant to chemoimmunotherapy with indoximod, another cancer-treating medication, alone.

Acceleration Initiative Awards | Pre-clinical Research

Dr. Langenau, at Massachusetts General Hospital, is researching TP53—a transcription factor whose mutation is thought to be critical to the growth of a wide variety of cancers. TP53 mutations are associated with poor outcome in several pediatric cancers including rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the cancer Jake had. Dr. Langenau and his colleagues will test novel therapeutics that reactivate p53 protein function for their ability to restore treatment sensitivity in RMS. By identifying p53 stabilizing therapies that synergize with chemo-and radiation therapies in p53-mutant RMS, they aim to develop a combination therapy that requires less chemotherapy and radiation, reducing treatment-related toxicities, and improving outcomes for patients with RMS.

Dr. Breunig, at Cedars Sinai, has developed a novel modeling system called MADR (Mosaic Analysis with Dual Recombinases), which allows for the creation of “personalized” brain tumor models down to the single cell level. Using MADR, Dr. Breunig has uncovered a key vulnerability in pediatric diffuse glioma tumors – the inability of the tumor to create the amino acid arginine, making it reliant on other sources of arginine for survival. In his CureSearch-funded work, Dr. Breunig proposes to use the MADR modeling platform along with matched human pediatric glioma tumor cell lines to test a targeted therapeutic for pediatric glioma in combination with standard-of-care treatment. He believes that this approach will hinder tumor growth and lead to anti-tumor toxicity.

Dr. Thomas-Tikhonenko, at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and in collaboration with University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University, is working to identify new, more specific targets for immunotherapy for two deadly pediatric cancers: diffuse midline glioma (DMG) and neuroblastoma (NB). These targets are the product of a process called aberrant splicing, which results in protein variants that are not found in normal cells. Because these altered cell surface proteins are not found on normal cells, they are an excellent, specific target for immunotherapy. Therapeutics that are developed during this project to recognize these cancer-specific cell-surface proteins will be able to either direct the immune system to destroy cancer cells or deliver therapeutics to the tumor while minimizing damage to normal cells resulting in fewer instances of dose-limiting toxicity and more effective therapy.

Dr. Grohar, at the University of Michigan, was the recipient of a three-year, $1.5 million grant to develop a new targeted treatment approach for pediatric osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer. The award – the Fight Osteosarcoma Together Super Grant – is a joint funding award with St. Baldrick’s Foundation, CureSearch, Battle Osteosarcoma, Michael and April Egge; The Osteosarcoma Collaborative, and the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund of Children’s Cancer Research Fund.

Previously Funded

Ewing sarcoma

Dr. Mary Beckerle of the Huntsman Cancer Institute began developing a novel epigenetic strategy to treat Ewing sarcoma. The project, completed in 2016, demonstrated so much potential for its anti-tumor effects that it was licensed to Salarius Pharmaceuticals, which is conducting a phase 1 trial in Ewing sarcoma. The trial will recruit up to 50 patients with Ewing sarcoma at clinical sites across the country. In addition, Salarius Pharmaceuticals is now expanding clinical trials into relapsed and refractory Ewing sarcoma and Ewing-related sarcomas, as well as myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, both cancers that can progress into acute myeloid leukemia.

Medulloblastoma

In 2013, Dr. William Weiss of the University of California, San Francisco, led an international study to determine if drugs that reprogram the epigenome can improve outcomes for children with high-risk medulloblastoma. In doing so, Dr. Weiss and his team identified previously unknown targets in medulloblastoma, building a knowledgebase that will enable identification of new therapeutic options against epigenetic targets for medulloblastoma. During the course of his work, he was unable to identify a drug that crossed the blood-brain barrier, but a new CureSearch Young Investigator project that is targeting epigenetics in pediatric brain tumors with more modern therapies means that the discoveries made by Dr. Weiss' lab are continuing to make an impact on pediatric therapy development.

Pediatric sarcoma

Dr. Andrew Kung of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center began a study in 2017 to identify new therapies for pediatric sarcoma. At the conclusion of his project, Dr. Kung’s lab has identified a pediatric Master Regulator (MR)-targeting therapy with significant efficacy in cell and animal models of Wilms tumor and rhabdoid tumor. As a result, they are currently negotiating a clinical trial proposal with the company that produces the drug. Ultimately, Dr. Kung aims to have this new therapy in clinical trials in 2022.

Rhabdomyosarcoma

Dr. Jason Yustein of Baylor College of Medicine began a project in 2013 to explore the genetic changes that occur when cancer spreads. In doing so, he studied mice with rhabdomyosarcoma in order to track the development of the cancer, and identify the genes responsible for the disease’s progression and subsequent metastasis. Dr. Yustein is actively using the mouse models developed through his CureSearch-funded project to test novel therapies and immune contributions. In fact, in two 2021 publications, Dr. Yustein identifies new promising targets for treatment of high-risk rhabdomyosarcoma. He is using his models to move the new targeted therapies into preclinical testing.

In addition, Dr. Ranjit Bindra of Yale University began a CureSearch-funded project in 2017 to identify novel targeted agents for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. He created an automated drug screening process, which can be applied to many other pediatric cancers.

Pediatric glioma

In 2018, Dr. Ranjit Bindra received additional funding from CureSearch to test a novel drug in pediatric patients with a specific subtype of glioma that makes it sensitive to chemotherapy by inhibiting the PARP gene that is involved in repairing DNA mutations. The clinical trial is now active at the University of California San Francisco, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Washington University St. Louis, Johns Hopkins University, Oregon Health & Sciences University, St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Yale University. Dr. Bindra has treated his first six patients, three of which have received the first dose level of combination BGB-290 and temozolomide. Over the next six months, Dr. Bindra’s team will recruit additional patients for the second dose
cohort of the trial.

Additionally, CureSearch partnered with PRA Health Sciences and members of the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer to develop a White Paper about the RACE for Children Act that features an overview of the rapid speed to clinical trials of his new therapeutic regimen. This accelerated pace to the clinic was enabled by the screening platform developed by Dr. Bindra.

Since 2007, Kiewit has proudly sponsored its annual Jakefest fundraiser benefiting CureSearch for Children's Cancer.

Jakefest Events

New Jersey

Boston (Mass Electric)

Denver

Great Lakes

Mid-Atlantic

Louisiana

The Impact of Jakefest

Currently Funding

Previously Funded

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