Hudson Monash Paediatric Precision Medicine Program

Major advances have been achieved in the discovery and application of targeted therapy for adult solid tumors, but therapeutic options for pediatric solid tumors have been limited. Current precision medicine programs focus on genomic sequencing, identifying the genes in a tumor’s DNA, to identify mutations, or changes, that may predict patients’ responses to targeted therapies. Unfortunately, currently 10% or fewer cancer patients have mutations that can be targeted and only 50% of those patients respond to therapy. This shows a need to identify new targets for treatment that improve treatment efficacy and limit the side effects of standard chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This project focuses on developing and utilizing individual patients’ tumor cells to identify new therapeutic targets and repurpose existing targets using new technologies, particularly for patients with high risk solid tumor (sarcomas, brain malignancies, refractory Wilms tumour, and neuroblastoma). Researchers will access the unique and comprehensive dataset provided by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas to complete this work, and the Children’s Brain Tumor Network will also provide the computational and technological support necessary for this high level analysis.