OICR takes lead on project to accelerate treatment for childhood diseases

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) is leading a major database initiative aimed at developing disease-specific data sets for children. With funding of $14.8 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health’s Kids First Pediatric Program, the project brings together previously established cohorts on birth defects and childhood cancers, uniting two research communities that have rarely interacted. The projects’ principal investigators are OICR researchers Dr Lincoln Stein and Dr Vincent Ferretti with responsibility to design and develop the Kids First Data Resource Centre. It’s hoped that the combination of the two databases will accelerate the development of new diagnostics, treatments and cures.