Next Generation Precision Medicine Program
There is an urgent need for new and more precisely targeted medicines to treat childhood cancers. Currently, genomic sequencing is used to identify discrete mutations that could predict a child’s responses to targeted therapies. However, fewer than one in five children with cancer are found to have actionable mutations. And of those children, only half respond to the therapies that are available.
New treatment options are needed, particularly for paediatric cancers that have the poorest survival rates such as brain and soft tissue tumours.
The Next Generation Precision Medicine Program is a flagship program of the Victorian Paediatric Cancer Consortium (VPCC) led by Hudson Institute’s Professor Ron Firestein, a clinician-scientist and the Head of the Centre for Cancer Research at Hudson Institute. The Program is focused on
- Generating novel models of childhood cancers that faithfully represent a patient’s tumour
- Characterising those models at a multi-omics level (genome, transcriptome, epigenome, proteome) to find what makes them unique
- Using comprehensive functional genomic screens that can identify the genetic drivers and dependencies of low-survival paediatric cancers
- Developing a childhood cell line atlas and data portal to enable cohort-level integrative genomic analyses.
Childhood Cancer Model Atlas (CCMA)
The Childhood Cancer Model Atlas (CCMA) was created through this program. As the largest collection of high-risk paediatric solid tumour cell lines in the world, the CCMA is one of the most valuable resources available for childhood cancer researchers globally. It provides a collection of well annotated and characterised models of childhood cancer with associated functional genomics screens and includes a searchable data portal that can be accessed by scientists worldwide. This open-source approach, couple with precise, detailed data, helps scientists anywhere collaborate and drive clinical translation to help sick children.
Team members
Professor Ron Firestein
Centre Head, Centre for Cancer Research and Co-lead, VPCC
Naama Neeman
Director of Operations, VPCC
Professor Bryan Williams
Distinguished Scientist
Dr Xin (Claire) Sun
Bioinformatics Team Leader
Dr Paul Daniel
Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr Vanessa Tsui
Postdoctoral Researcher, Functional Genomics – funded by Robert Connor Dawes Foundation
Melissa Loi
Technical Sequencing Specialist
Monty Panday
Analyst Programmer
Dr Nicole Chew
Senior Organoid Specialist
Rajithri (Dilru) Habarakada
Biobank Specialist
Vikesh Ajith
Bioinformatics Research Assistant
Dr Hanbyeol Lee
Postdoctoral Scientist
Samitha Amarapathy
PhD student, Faculty of IT, Monash University
Shazia Adjumain
Gideon Gratzer PhD Scholar – funded by Robert Connor Dawes Foundation
Dr Yichen Zhou
Postdoctoral Scientist
Danxi Zhu
Postdoctoral Scientist
Dr Yuqing Liang
Children’s Cancer Foundation PhD Student
Hui Kheng Chua
Laboratory Manager
Lily Fraser
Honours Student
Nicole Alexia
Visiting Scholar
Dingyin Sun
PhD Student
James Cooper
Volunteer
Abigail Yoel
Visiting Scholar
Collaborators
Prof David Eisenstat – The Royal Children’s Hospital/Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
A/Prof Peter Downie – Monash Children’s Hospital
A/Prof Sefi Rosenbluh – Monash University
A/Prof Paul Ekert – Children’s Cancer Institute
Prof Roger Daly – Monash University
Dr Pouya Faridi – Monash University
A/Prof Paul Neeson – Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre