Testing the Diagnostic Yield of a Pediatric Mutation Panel for CNS Tumors

Background

Current studies are taking place to collect and sequence DNA and RNA in blood and tumor samples obtained from children both newly diagnosed with, and relapsed brain tumors. Samples from approximately 100 cases have been collected.

Project Goal

Emily will be working with the principal investigator of this project to extract nucleic acids from the samples, and sequence them. She will then help put the data in order to identify genetic alterations that occur in known cancer genes, and evaluate how frequently clinically-relevant alterations can be found. She will be learning to use several bioinformatic and laboratory tools from this project. The overall goal of this is to identify biologically and clinically-relevant genetic alterations in pediatric brain tumors, and eventually improve diagnostic tools and treatments for children with tumors.