Development of Preclinical Models of Pediatric Ependymoma

Strong preclinical models, used to mimic conditions of ependymoma growth in the human body, are essential to the development of targeted therapies. Such models allow researchers to study the tumors as well as perform drug screening before testing therapies on a patient. Ependymoma are known to be difficult to grow, but researchers have found recent success utilizing a novel technique to establish long term 3D cultures of this nervous system tissue. Frozen supratentorial ependymoma (ST-EPN) specimens were provided by CBTN for this project and will be used to create up to 10 models, advancing the development of new treatments.