The Children’S Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) – Accelerating Research In Pediatric Central Nervous System Tumors Through Collaboration And Open Science

Pediatric brain tumors are a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children in the United States, and survivors often suffer long-term side effects. The Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) is a group of 32 institutions working together to collect and distribute biospecimens and data for pediatric brain tumors through open-science research platforms. As of August 2022, CBTN has enrolled over 4700 subjects and collected over 65,000 biospecimen aliquots. They have developed over 80 preclinical models from collected tumors and have multi-omic data for over 1000 tumors and germline material. CBTN provides the largest open-access pediatric brain tumor multi-omic dataset with longitudinal clinical and outcome data, imaging, associated biospecimens, child-parent genomic pedigrees, and in vivo and in vitro preclinical models. The CBTN is supported by NIH platforms such as the Kids First Data Resource and the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, which will help scientists accelerate translational impact for improved outcomes and quality of life for children with brain and spinal cord tumors.