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Cancer Research Centers and Health
Systems Launch New Data Resource
Center for Pediatric Cancer
Six cancer research centers and health systems have partnered to launch
the Kids First Data Resource Center (DRC) – a centralized, cloud-based
database and discovery portal of clinical and genetic sequencing data – to
help researchers identify genetic pathways that underlie and possibly link
childhood cancer and structural birth defects. In addition, the DRC will de-
velop analytical tools to provide access to the data for use in the discovery
of novel and improved treatments for patients.
The partnering organizations are the Center for Data Driven Discov-
ery in Biomedicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP),
the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the University of Chicago,
Children’s National Health System, Oregon Health and Science Univer-
sity, and Seven Bridges Genomics.
“For the first time, clinicians and researchers, along with academic,
government, and commercial partners, are coming together to fully
harness the power of emergent technologies, shared data, and preci-
sion medicine,” said N. Scott Adzick, MD, surgeon-in-chief and director
of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at CHOP.
The program is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Common Fund’s Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Pro-
gram, which is expected to provide funding for five years of up to
approximately $14.8 million. Approximately 6,000 patient samples
will be ready for analysis at inception, projected to grow to more than
25,000 by 2018.
Source: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia press release, August 15, 2017.
LSU Receives $10 Million Grant to Study Virus-Induced Cancers
Louisiana State University (LSU) Health
New Orleans received a five-year, $10 million
grant from the National Institute of General
Medical Sciences to study new diagnostic
and therapeutic approaches for virus-induced
cancers. The grant will support the research of
four junior investigators:
• Zhiqiang Qin, MD, PhD, assistant
professor of microbiology, immunology,
and parasitology at LSU
• Chris McGowin, PhD, assistant professor
of microbiology, immunology, and
parasitology at LSU
• Donna Neumann, PhD, assistant
professor of pharmacology at LSU
• Zhen Lin, MD, PhD, assistant professor
of pathology at Tulane University
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ASH Clinical News
It will also support two pilot projects:
Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSCs)
and HIV Malignancies and John Cun-
ningham Virus–Induced MDSCs in Central
Nervous System Tumors.
Krzysztof Reiss, PhD, professor and
director of neurological cancer research at
LSU Health New Orleans Stanley S. Scott
Cancer Center is the grant’s principal inves-
tigator.
Virus-related cancers, such as primary
effusion lymphoma, disproportionately
affect the African-American population.
“Understanding why and how particular
viruses and viral co-infections promote
the development of malignancies in our
minority and vulnerable populations is
essential to identifying and implementing
new prevention, diagnostic, and treatment
strategies,” said Dr. Reiss.
Source: Louisiana State University press release, August 25, 2017.
University of Iowa and Mayo
Clinic Receive $12.4 Million Grant
Renewal for Lymphoma Research
The National Cancer Insti-
tute awarded the University
of Iowa Holden Compre-
hensive Cancer Center and
Mayo Clinic a five-year,
$12.4 million grant renewal
to continue the Specialized
Thomas Witzig, MD
Program of Research Excel-
lence (SPORE) for lymphoma research.
“This five-year grant will continue our
quest to understand why patients get lym-
phoma and will be providing our patients
opportunities for exciting new therapies,” said
Thomas Witzig, MD, SPORE director at the
Mayo Clinic.
SPORE’s goal is to develop new ap-
proaches to the prevention, detection, and
treatment of lymphoma, and the program
Continued on page 22
December 2017