Her research focuses on pediatric brain tumors, the leading cause of disease-related death in children. Very little is known about why pediatric brain tumors develop and there is a desperate need for effective treatment options. Dr. Waanders is a leader in the efforts to find and understand the genetic basis of these deadly tumors. Her work directly led to the discovery of an abnormal cancer-causing oncogene that is now known to be a sign of pediatric low-grade gliomas (PLGGs). Based on this finding and several additional genomic mutations that have been identified, she has created an extensive research program and is collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to identify promising new treatments.
Dr. Waanders is also the Executive Board Chair for the Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium (CBTTC), a multi-institutional effort to collect and share massive amounts of data about individual patient tumors. For a child with a brain tumor, this means that the brightest minds in the world have access to the data they need to do actual research and discover novel, targeted treatments and individualized therapies.