Mission and Goals

The Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) Initiative is committed to focusing the tools of modern genetics on the discovery of valid therapeutic targets in childhood cancers so that new, more effective treatments can be rapidly developed.

To fulfill this mission, the National Cancer Institute is partnering with several other world-class institutions to identify valid targets for several specific devastating childhood cancers, initially focusing on high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and neuroblastoma.

The ultimate goal of TARGET is to provide the scientific insight that will help reduce the devastating burden of cancer for children and their families.