The first episode of 2026 keeps it real about what the New Year actually feels like when osteosarcoma is still part of everyday life. Mia and Sammy are joined by Sloane and Mackenzie to talk through pain, recovery, scans, insurance stress, and the emotional weight January can bring. There’s no pressure to have it all figured out—just honest conversation, shared experiences, and hope focused on small, bite-sized goals and taking things one day at a time.

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Joseph Skeate, PhD, an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, discusses his OutSmarting Osteosarcoma funded work (Because of Annaleigh) on next generation dual-CAR gamma delta T cells for the treatment of pediatric osteosarcoma.

In this presentation, Dr. Skeate will provide an overview of the next-generation genome engineering strategies deployed for this project and share updates on the development of a gamma-delta chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for treating osteosarcoma. He will describe how the team is combining non-viral transposon insertion of a CAR transgene with targeted gene modification using an Adenine Base Editor to enhance T cell function in the presence of suppressive factors characteristic of osteosarcoma tumors.

Dr Joseph Skeate is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Minnesota. He obtained his PhD in Medical Biology from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Following his doctoral work, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota under the mentorship of Drs Branden Moriarity and Beau Webber. During this time, he developed a hyperactive transposon system and deployed novel genome engineering approaches using Cas9 systems, creating a powerful toolkit for rapid non-viral engineering and preclinical testing of primary human cells. Leveraging his background and expertise in immunology and genome engineering, his lab now focuses on developing next-generation cellular therapies for rare pediatric disease, including osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Izuchukwu Ibe, MD, a musculoskeletal oncologist, Associate Professor, and Residency Program Director at the University of Mississippi Medical Center joins us on OsteoBites to discuss insights and highlights from the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) December 2025 Annual Meeting, December 3-5 in Mexico City.

Dr. Ibe is a Musculoskeletal Oncologist with a residency from Yale and a Fellowship from the University of Toronto. He is passionate about educating patients and families with a sarcoma diagnosis and channels this through his Sarcoma Insights podcasts. He enjoys soccer and spending time with his family.

Results of a phase II trial of olaparib in combination with ceralasertib in patients with recurrent and unresectable osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Katie Janeway, MD and Suzanne Forrest, MD join us on OsteoBites to discuss results of a phase II trial of olaparib in combination with ceralasertib in patients with recurrent and unresectable osteosarcoma.

Dr. Janeway received her MD and MMSc from Harvard Medical School. She completed her pediatrics residency and her Pediatric Hematology-Oncology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, a Senior Physician who cares for young people with sarcoma, and Director of Clinical Genomics. Dr. Janeway’s research is focused on precision oncology and bone sarcomas. She leads clinical trials both as an independent investigator and as the Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Bone Tumor Committee. The Janeway Laboratory leads several studies, which have enrolled and sequenced more than 2,500 patients with childhood cancers. They are using this data to deepen the understanding of clinical and genomic factors explaining prognosis and treatment response, and resistance, with a focus on sarcomas. In collaboration with Count Me In, the group is innovating patient partnerships in sarcoma research.Dr. Forrest completed her medical school training at Yale University, followed by pediatrics training in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She then pursued a pediatric oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Boston Children’s Hospital. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and an Attending Physician in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber / Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Her research focuses on developing novel clinical trials that utilize cancer genomics to guide treatment strategies for pediatric solid tumors.

After a short presentation on this research, they will take questions from attendees. Share your questions in advance with us at [email protected].

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Isidro Cortés-Ciriano will discuss his work studying how ongoing chromothripsis underpins osteosarcoma genome complexity and clonal evolution.

In this episode of osTEAo, Mia and Sammy — joined by Mackenzie and Alejandro — open up about the many forms of loss: losing friends, losing health, and losing parts of themselves as life shifts after cancer. They talk about how grief shows up in changing abilities, in memories, and in the quiet moments where life feels different than before. Through honest conversation about rituals, storytelling, and the ways grief softens over time, they explore how remembrance can heal and how connection helps carry the weight. Despite the heaviness, the group finds hope in shared stories, laughter, and the idea that while grief is intertwined with love, no one has to navigate it alone.

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Janeala Morsby, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, discusses her OutSmarting Osteosarcoma funded work focused on exploring the mechanism of synergy of the dual inhibition of ATM and PARP for the treatment of pediatric osteosarcoma.
Janeala Morsby hails from the beautiful island of Jamaica, where she was born and raised in Port Antonio, Portland. Her journey to the United States began when she received a full honors scholarship to attend Claflin University, where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, summa cum laude. She then went on to complete her PhD at the University of Notre Dame under the supervision of Dr. Bradley Smith. At the University of Notre Dame, her work focused on the detection of hypoxia in cancer cell models, in addition to diagnostics and imaging. She is now a postdoctoral associate at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (SJCRH) in Dr. Lillian Guenther’s lab. At SJCRH, her work focuses on exploring the mechanism of synergy of the dual inhibition of ATM and PARP for the treatment of pediatric osteosarcoma. She is very passionate about the proposed research project and hopes that the findings of the proposed work will be beneficial to pediatric osteosarcoma patients.

Dr. Kelly Makielski and Dr. Jaime Modiano from the University of Minnesota join us on OsteoBites to discuss comparative extracellular vesicle (EV) biomarkers for osteosarcoma risk and prognosis.

They are investigating extracellular vesicle (EV) transcriptomic profiles as minimally invasive biomarkers in canine and pediatric osteosarcoma in two ongoing studies. In the Canine Osteosarcoma Early Detection (COED) study, they are sequencing EV RNA from otherwise healthy dogs in breeds at elevated risk of osteosarcoma to identify gene signatures for the early detection and risk assessment of osteosarcoma. In parallel, they are conducting the KIDsCAN study, where we are sequencing EVs from pediatric osteosarcoma patients to identify prognostic signatures that could ultimately guide treatment intensity, aiming to minimize long-term therapy-associated morbidity without negatively impacting survival. Preliminary results from COED will be shared, along with how their comparative approach is helping to guide the KIDsCAN study.

Kelly M. Makielski, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM) is an Assistant Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and Masonic Cancer Center. Her research focuses on extracellular vesicle (EV) biology and comparative oncology, using naturally occurring cancers in dogs to inform human cancer biology and treatment. She is the recipient of an NIH K01 investigating EV–based biomarkers for osteosarcoma prognosis in pediatric osteosarcoma, to guide personalized therapy and reduce treatment-related morbidity.

Dr. Jaime Modiano holds the Alvin and June Perlman Endowed Chair of Animal Oncology and is director of the Animal Cancer Care and Research Program of the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota. He completed his training through the Veterinary Medical Scientist Training Program (VMD, PhD) at the University of Pennsylvania, and he followed it with a residency in Clinical Pathology at Colorado State University and a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. Before joining the University of Minnesota, he served on the faculties of Texas A&M University and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Modiano has also worked in the private sector, as founder of several start-up companies, and as Director of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy for the Donald Monk Cancer Research Foundation. Through his research, Dr. Modiano seeks to understand how and why cancer happens and to develop strategies for improving the health and well-being of companion animals and humans alike.

This one’s for anyone who’s ever had a hospital night that felt straight out of a horror movie. In Spooky Sarcoma Stories, four young osteosarcoma survivors — Sammy, Alejandro, Inaaya, and Max swap their wildest, scariest, and most surreal treatment memories, like the time Alejandro thought the IV tower was a robot monster, Max’s feeding tube removal turned into a “murder mystery,” Inaaya woke up to chemo-soaked sheets, and Sammy faced a limb salvage surgery that went sideways. It’s honest, a little dark, sometimes funny, and totally real. Because osteosarcoma doesn’t need ghosts to be spooky.

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Alanna Church, MD, Associate Director, Laboratory for Molecular Pediatric Pathology at Boston Children's Hospital, Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and Conference Cochair joins us on OsteoBites to discuss insights and higlights from the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Discovery and Innovation in Pediatric Cancer—From Biology to Breakthrough Therapies, September 25-28 in Boston.

Dr. Church is currently a Molecular and Pediatric Pathologist at Boston Children's Hospital, where she is a founder and associate medical director of the Laboratory for Molecular Pediatric Pathology (LaMPP). She is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, the Program Director for the Harvard Molecular Genetic Pathology Fellowship, and the incoming Chair of Clinical Practice for the Association for Molecular Pathology. Her clinical and research work focuses on bringing molecular testing to the clinical care of children with cancer. Through institutional projects (the Profile study, GAIN consortium study), she has profiled thousands of children's tumors and has used these results to make real-time impacts on their diagnoses and treatments. She is involved in national initiatives to improve the quality and access to molecular testing for children with cancer, including the NCI-funded Count Me In Study (Dana Farber, Broad Institute), the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the National Institutes of Health, and the Children's Oncology Group.