Funding the next breakthrough in brain cancer research.
Together.
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Our Mission
To reverse the underfunded and under-researched nature of
brain cancer by funding innovative research on the most
aggressive form of brain cancer: Glioblastoma (GBM)
Our Vision
A world where a GBM diagnosis is treatable and curable
$1.5 MILLION GIVEN SINCE 2021
Those who give to KMF are literally providing the funding for the development of innovative, life-saving treatments at the Duke Brain Tumor Center.
5 LANDMARK
PROJECTS FUNDED
Collectively, these projects show how the generosity of our donors fuels progress across the entire spectrum of brain tumor research—from discovery to direct patient impact.
35 PATIENTS
CURRENTLY ENROLLED
There are 35 brain cancer warriors currently enrolled in KMF-funded MOAB Trial offered to patients right now at Duke, Kansas City, Huntsman Cancer Center in Utah, and UCSF
We partner with doctors and researchers at the Duke Brain Tumor Center to fund innovative research on the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.
Innovative research is not federally funded until enough data has been collected. For this reason, private funding is critical for clinical trial research to move forward. With private funding, our research partners at Duke hope to bear enough promising results to receive federal grants worth tens of millions of dollars – grants that will take KMF funded clinical trials to patients on a nationwide level.
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At Duke, there is hope.
Our 5 Landmark Projects at Duke
KMF has supported 5 landmark projects at the Duke Brain Tumor Center since 2021. These initiatives span the full continuum: from completed trials moving toward publication, to cutting-edge preclinical innovation, to an ongoing trial already making a difference for patients. Our support is the bridge that sustains these efforts with our lab team at the Duke Brain Tumor Center and accelerates discoveries that would otherwise not be possible.
Project 1
FLiRT
This Clinical Trial is now completed and closed, this trial has produced encouraging early findings. The team is preparing a scientific abstract for presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in spring 2026, with a full manuscript to follow. FLiRT was an exciting new FDA-approved trial evaluating if PROZAC can enhance the effect of chemotherapy against recurrent high-grade brain tumors. PROZAC is a drug commonly used to treat depression. PROZAC is also already widely available, inexpensive, and has a well-understood safety profile. New research shows that PROZAC can also make tumors more sensitive to chemotherapy. The findings of this trial are very exciting, because they could potentially be rapidly translated into routine clinical practice.
Project 2
TIL
Preclinical efforts are advancing to prepare the next wave of IND-enabling studies. We expect a publication next year describing biological determinants of successful TIL expansion. With this Clinical Trial, our team at Duke is studying ways to make immunotherapy highly individualized to a patient’s body and their tumor. They’re is using tumor samples removed at the time of surgery to grow and strengthen the patient’s native immune cells outside of the body (in the lab). The team will give the strengthened immune cells back to patients, to prompt the patient’s own immune system to assist in destroying the tumor.
Project 3
Now completed and closed, results have been published. Based on what they learned learned, the team is now launching a follow-up project that uses focused ultrasound to safely open the blood–brain barrier and improve how drugs reach tumors inside the brain. Doctors evaluated the efficacy of a drug called Evolocumab to make cancer cells more visible to the immune system. Evolocumab (Evo) is a drug commonly used to treat high cholesterol. PESKe assessed how well Evo can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and make tumor cells more visible to the immune system & vulnerable to treatment.
Project 4
Personalized Peptide Vaccine Program
Functional validation for this project is underway as our lab moves toward IND submission and first-in-human testing.
Project 5
MOAB Trial
This multicenter immunotherapy trial is now open at Duke, Kansas City, Huntsman Cancer Center (Utah), and UCSF, with 35 patients enrolled. Our support has enabled the purchase of specialized reagents and kits for deep analysis of patient samples. These studies will help us understand how therapy reshapes the tumor immune environment and how those changes relate to clinical benefit.
This content was shared & reviewed by Dr. Mustafa Khasraw, MD of the Duke Brain Tumor Center.
A letter from Becky, KMF President & CEO
Dear Friends,
With deep gratitude and a full heart, I welcome you into the growing KMF community. The past five years have been nothing short of extraordinary, as together, we’ve pushed the Knox Martin Foundation for Brain Cancer Research to new heights in our mission to fund the next breakthrough in brain cancer treatment. Because of your generosity and belief in this cause, we’ve raised $1.5 million for Duke and helped fund five landmark projects at the Duke Brain Tumor Center — real progress that proves every single dollar gifted to KMF holds the power to change lives.
But KMF is more than an organization — it’s a promise. A promise I made to my son, Knox, on the day he was dying. I told him that as long as I was living, I would never stop fighting for warriors like him. I vowed to dedicate my life to funding groundbreaking brain cancer research so that someone else’s Knox could have a shot at a longer life. And I wasn’t alone. His closest friends stood beside me, sharing that same calling. Just four months after Knox passed, we turned our pain into purpose and founded the Knox Martin Foundation. We are driven by love, loss, and an unwavering commitment to change the future of brain cancer.
Knox was a light in every room, a friend to all and a stranger to none. He had a rare gift for making people feel seen, valued, and deeply loved. Even in his hardest moments, he never stopped fighting — never stopped believing. His spirit is the heartbeat of KMF. His legacy lives on in the families we support, the research we fund, and the hope we bring to those still fighting.
Knox didn’t lose his battle — he ignited a mission. And through this foundation, his fight continues.
With YOUR help — our cherished donors, partners, community members, and friends — we can give another family hope, another warrior a fighting chance, and someone else’s Knox a shot at a longer life.
With gratitude,
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