Photo: Participants at our 2026 International Chordoma Research Workshop
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New possibilities emerge from our conferences
More than 230 researchers, clinicians, patients, loved ones, and supporters from around the world gathered in Boston for our recent International Chordoma Research Workshop and Community Conference, our largest turnout yet.
The events reflected the extraordinary momentum building across our field, highlighting a major milestone in brachyury drug discovery, emerging opportunities for immunotherapy, progress toward making clinical trials more efficient, and much more. Alongside research updates, the Community Conference also featured sessions on survivorship, peer connection, and participation in our mission. Catch up on the key takeaways here.
Promising early clinical trial results (still enrolling!)
Among the highlights shared at the Research Workshop were encouraging early results from a clinical trial we’re supporting that combines two drugs, pemetrexed and pembrolizumab: lead investigator Dr. Naveed Wagle reported that tumors have shown response in most chordoma patients treated so far.
The trial is still enrolling adults with progressive chordoma at Saint John's Cancer Institute in California. Our Clinical Trial Assistance Program can help ease the financial burden of participation, providing eligible patients with up to $1,000 per month toward travel-related expenses.
Collaborating to fund more high-impact research
Also at our Research Workshop, we were thrilled to announce a new joint grants program with the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research offering awards of up to $500K to help pave the way for chordoma patients to benefit from emerging treatment approaches that target cell surface proteins or peptides presented by MHC molecules on cancer cells—a major area of opportunity which builds on the results of several projects we’ve supported in recent years to identify surface targets. Researchers can find more details about the ASPIRE Award here; the request for proposals will open here on Monday, October 26.
Additionally, we are again partnering with the Cancer Research Institute to offer two immunotherapy-focused funding opportunities: one up to $300K via the Impact Grant program to advance promising research toward the clinic, and up to $1M through the Clinical Innovator program to test promising immunotherapies in patients.
Small research investments unlock big opportunities
Our early investments in chordoma research are helping attract much larger sources of funding. Two recent U.S. federal grant awards totaling nearly $1M illustrate the impact of our early support: At the University of Miami, our $25K seed grant coupled with in-kind support from our research team helped Dr. David Lombard secure roughly $500K from the Department of Defense to investigate metabolic vulnerabilities in chordoma. And at New York University, preliminary data generated by CF Labs helped Dr. David Zagzag and colleagues secure nearly $500K from the National Institutes of Health to explore how chordoma tumors evade immune attack.
We're continuing to seed promising new projects, too: Recently we awarded a $100K pilot grant to Dr. Yaqiang Wang at the Medical College of Wisconsin, whose team is pursuing proof of concept for a novel approach to targeting brachyury.
Meanwhile, we awarded $150K in follow-on funding to Dr. Claudia Scholl's group at the German Cancer Research Center to help them investigate observations made under a prior grant about how chordoma cells differ within tumors and adapt to treatment.
Our new Nurse Navigator Sara Cox (center), with Dr. Greg Cote and patient Susie Rinehart
Deepening our support for patients
More than 4,000 chordoma patients and family members around the world have turned to our free Patient Navigation Service for personalized guidance, connections to experienced specialists, and help navigating decisions about their care.
As treatment options expand, patients face increasingly complex decisions about surgery, radiation, and drug therapies, as well as tumor profiling, clinical trials, and supportive care. Helping them understand these options and prepare for conversations with their doctors requires deeper clinical expertise. We’re excited to be taking a key step toward meeting this need with the addition of our first Nurse Navigator, Sara Cox. Sara brings more than a decade of experience helping people with brain and spine tumors navigate treatment decisions and access care, strengthening the personalized support our team offers patients and families.
Help us grow our team and our impact
We’re hiring a Senior Research Associate in our laboratory to support a growing number of researchers and companies working to develop chordoma drugs, and a Major Gift Officer to build the relationships and financial support needed to fuel our increasingly ambitious work. Know someone who might be a great fit? We'd be grateful if you'd help spread the word!
Our 2026–2030 Strategic Plan
The advances and investments highlighted above are all part of a larger vision for driving progress towards a better future for people affected by chordoma. Our recently announced Strategic Plan lays out how we'll advance new treatments, help more patients access expert care and support, mobilize substantially more resources and harness emerging technologies to dramatically accelerate progress over the next five years. We encourage you to take a look at what's ahead and how you can take part.
Team Chordoma participants in New Jersey and Germany
Team Chordoma brings our global community together
More than 100 people joined this year's Team Chordoma event, running, walking, and cheering in Jersey City and other cities around the world. It was our most successful year yet, raising $220K and bringing Team Chordoma’s cumulative total to $1M to advance our mission! Huge thanks to chordoma survivor and Chordoma Foundation Board member Steven Mandel, and everyone who makes this tradition so special.