Cavatica: The Pediatric Genomic Cloud for Collaborative Research

Summary

A major bottleneck in cancer discovery is that even when data is generated, there is limited capacity to drive the use, access, and computation requirements to properly interpret highly complex and large datasets. To solve this challenge in adult cancers the National Institute of Health has initiated a cancer genomic cloud effort, however little to no infrastructure exists to support data access or the shared analysis resources for cancer genomic data from pediatric patients. To overcome this challenge, CBTTC initiated a new pediatric genomic cloud data environment called Cavatica, with the aim to create a sustainable and scalable environment for storing, sharing and analyzing high-quality pediatric brain tumor genomic data generated from pediatric cancer biospecimens and further integrate this data with publically available pediatric and adult cancer data sets. Only through such efforts will authentic data-driven discovery be empowered on behalf of pediatric cancer patients.

Cavatica, will integrate with existing informatics systems to allow researchers to work on and identify clinically annotated biological specimens that are available for use. To our knowledge, this will create the first biologically centered, dynamic pediatric cancer database and shared computation environment integrating genomic datasets, clinical data, and available biospecimens. We hope such a model will serve as the underpinning for all pediatric cancer research, empowering research on behalf of affected children.