From the Alps to the Lab:
How Everest in the Alps is Changing the Future for Children with Brain Tumours
The Problem
Ten years ago, very little research was being carried out into low-grade paediatric brain tumours – despite brain tumours being the single biggest cancer killer of children and young people under 40 in the UK.
Every year, over 500 children and young people aged 19 and under are diagnosed. There is still no cure, and only 3% of cancer research funding is directed to this area.
Current treatments – radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and invasive surgery – bring harsh side effects and uncertain outcomes. Families face difficult choices, and children often undergo treatments that may not prevent the tumour from returning.
The Vision
This urgent gap inspired Rob Ritchie to create Everest in the Alps in 2015 – a gruelling ski touring challenge designed to raise both funds and awareness for this neglected cause, after his five-year-old son was diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumour.
The first expedition raised over £3 million for The Brain Tumour Charity, directly funding the creation of the Everest Centre for Research into Paediatric Low Grade Brain Tumours – a landmark initiative dedicated to tackling these often-underfunded tumours.
The Breakthrough
Launched in 2017 with a £5 million investment, the Everest Centre became the largest single research initiative ever funded by the charity.
Its mission: to understand the biological drivers of low-grade tumours, develop safer, more effective treatments, and improve clinical outcomes and quality of life for children and families.
Dr David Jones
Phase 1 Achievements (2017–2021)
In its first five years, the Everest Centre became a global hub for discovery – connecting leading researchers across Europe to tackle paediatric low-grade gliomas, the most common brain tumours in children.
More than 50 scientific papers were published, collaborations flourished, and landmark progress was made in diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life.
Redefining the Global Standard
Research from the Everest Centre led to fundamental changes in how low-grade paediatric brain tumours are classified.
For the first time, these tumours gained their own category in the World Health Organisation’s classification – a major step forward in recognising the unique biology of these childhood tumours and enabling more accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Building Better Models for Discovery
Scientists developed new laboratory models of low-grade tumours to understand the mechanisms that drive their growth and behaviour.
These models now allow potential new treatments to be screened more rapidly and reliably – accelerating progress from lab to clinic.
Pioneering New Treatment Approaches
Everest Centre teams identified and tested drugs that target the specific signals driving tumour growth, including ulixertinib, which is now moving into clinical trials (EPILOGUE).
Researchers also discovered less aggressive, more targeted therapies that could reduce side effects and improve children’s long-term quality of life.
Creating Global Data Resources
The Centre established vital international databases – including the LOGGIC Core BioClinical Databank – to collect genetic, clinical, and quality-of-life data from children worldwide.
These shared resources are transforming how scientists and clinicians understand how these tumours develop, match patients with clinical trials, and monitor the impact of treatments beyond survival.
Understanding and Tackling “Sleeping” Cells
Researchers uncovered new insights into senescent or “sleeping” tumour cells – those that resist standard chemotherapy because they aren’t actively dividing.
By revealing how these cells behave, the team opened the door to new strategies that could prevent recurrence and improve outcomes.
Phase 1 laid the foundation for everything that follows: a deeper understanding of tumour biology, new tools for diagnosis, and the first steps toward truly targeted, kinder treatments.
The Next Chapter: Driving Discovery Further
In 2022, the Centre was awarded a further five years of funding to continue this urgently needed research – and the results are already remarkable.
Enabling a Smarter, Faster Diagnosis
Researchers are developing cutting-edge technologies to enable more precise, faster diagnosis. A new AI-driven tool for image-based tumour classification is showing promising early results, helping clinicians recognise and categorise tumours with greater accuracy.
Alongside this, the team is advancing nanopore sequencing and advanced omics – powerful genetic analysis techniques that reveal the full biological picture of a tumour, helping to match each child with the most effective possible treatment.
Understanding and Targeting the MAPK Pathway
Almost all paediatric low-grade gliomas are driven by changes in the MAPK pathway – the set of signals that control cell growth.
During the first phase of research, the team developed model systems to study this pathway. These are now being used to explore how tumours grow, evolve, and resist treatment.
A key finding so far: if inhibitory drugs are withdrawn, tumour cells can quickly reactivate this pathway and recruit immune cells to help them grow. This discovery is guiding the next generation of drug design.
The team’s multi-omics profiling – an approach examining genes, proteins, metabolites and more – is also revealing new drug targets for future investigation, laying the groundwork for the next stage of treatment development.
Exploring the Tumour Microenvironment
Tumours don’t exist in isolation. Their growth depends not only on the cancer cells themselves, but also on their microenvironment – the surrounding tissue and immune cells.
In the largest immune study ever conducted on these childhood brain tumours, researchers have found how certain immune cells may help tumours hide from the body’s defences.
This has revealed a new therapeutic strategy to investigate – targeting both the MAPK pathway and these immune-suppressing cells.
Scientists are also studying “sleeping” or senescent cells, which can resist standard chemotherapy. Understanding how to treat these cells could help prevent tumours from recurring.
Turning Research into Patient Benefit
The Everest Centre’s pioneering laboratory work is translating into direct benefits for patients worldwide.
The LOGGIC Core BioClinical Databank – now spanning 15 countries – has become the world’s largest molecular diagnostic database for paediatric low-grade glioma.
It holds data from over 1,850 newly diagnosed children, helping clinicians provide detailed molecular analysis of each tumour and connect families to appropriate clinical trials.
The team is also preparing to launch the EPILOGUE clinical trial, now in its final phase of preparation. Ulixertinib is among the drugs being tested – a drug first explored by Everest Centre scientists during Phase 1. With regulatory submission expected in 2025 and recruitment beginning in 2026.
EPILOGUE will also use mobile sensor technology to monitor patients’ physical activity and real-time wellbeing – ensuring that outcomes focus on quality of life as well as survival.
Improving Quality of Life
For many children, survival is only part of the story. Researchers at the Everest Centre are now examining the long-term effects of treatment to help shape better care in the future.
Recent studies have found that almost half of children diagnosed with these tumours experience lasting physical, cognitive, or vision problems.
Those with fewer interventions and safer surgical outcomes report better quality of life – key insights that will influence how future treatments are designed and delivered.
Continuing the Climb
From progress in the laboratory to clinical trials, the Everest Centre is delivering a global step change in how we understand and treat these childhood brain tumours.
Every metre climbed, every pound raised through Everest in the Alps, continues to push this work higher – towards smarter diagnosis, kinder treatments, and a future free from fear.
This is why we climb.
Join the climb. Support Everest in the Alps and help change the future for children with brain tumours.
Join us for 2026!
