CHOP opening precision medicine center

The Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) aims to advance precision medicine and match the most appropriate treatment to individual patients.

Much of its work will target highly specific biological abnormalities in childhood cancers, but the center also will focus on other rare pediatric diseases, according to an announcement.

"The genomics revolution ushered in by the first sequencing of the human genome early last decade is a watershed moment in discovery, opening up ever-growing paths to new disease treatments," said Adam Resnick, PhD, an expert in brain tumors and founding director of the new center. "However, the challenge of 'big data' lies in accessing, harnessing and sharing this flood of information, especially for pediatrics."

"Change is urgently needed in pediatric research, where territorial boundaries, scarce data and limited technological infrastructures impede medical progress," said Phillip Storm, MD, division chief of neurosurgery and the center's co-director. "Our center has a goal of developing new models for collaboration, data sharing and scientific integration."

Under its open science model, the center will drive the secure generation and integration of complex genomic and clinical patient data and develop the open-access platforms that support collaborative discovery. Researchers will be able to access the information and share novel ideas and approaches for new biological targets for precise, less toxic clinical treatments on behalf of children.

The CHOP Research Institute and CHOP's Department of Biomedical Health and Informatics have jointly launched the center. It builds on CHOP's existing resources, such as its biospecimen and bioinformatics platforms (tumor and tissue samples, integrated with genomic sequencing data) and its tissue-based diagnostic program. It also draws on CHOP's experience in leading multi-institutional research and clinical trial consortia, such as the Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium and the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium.