Integrative Multi-omics Approaches to identify novel biomarker-informed therapeutic targets for childhood cancer.

Childhood cancer is often most deadly when it involves tumors in the central nervous system. One major challenge is the lack of pediatric cancer models compared to adult ones. To address this, our team at the Next Generation Precision Medicine Program, led by Prof. Ron Firestein, has spent more than five years building the Childhood Cancer Model Atlas (CCMA) at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. The CCMA project takes a comprehensive approach, using various technique to better understand childhood cancers.
My research aims to use these multi-layered datasets from the CCMA to discover potential therapeutic targets in pediatric cancer. A key goal of my project is to find a biomarker present in both lab-based cell models and real patient tumor samples. However, we currently have limited pediatric tumor samples and data available. To overcome this, we are applying for access to the CBTN dataset, which would provide the data we need to support biomarker discovery and guide future experiments.