Partnerships

All of Us Research Program

The All of Us Research Program is inviting one million people across the U.S. to help build one of the most diverse health databases in history. We welcome participants from all backgrounds. Researchers will use the data to learn how our biology, lifestyle, and environment affect health. This may one day help them find ways to treat and prevent disease.

Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI)

The NIH Common Fund’s Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI) program will propel biomedical research forward by setting the stage for widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) that tackles complex biomedical challenges beyond human intuition.

EuroPDX

In the last years, the scientific community working in the field of preclinical cancer research has realized the importance of mutualizing efforts and exchanging models and expertise to avoid duplication. In addition, a number of publications have pointed out the necessity of raising standards in preclinical cancer research to significantly improve the success of drug development in the field of oncology. To improve the robustness of data, preclinical studies need to be conducted with the rigor and challenges of clinical trials. Patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDXs) are today recognized as very relevant preclinical cancer models, however, they are very time-consuming and consequently very expensive.

Based on the valuable collaborations already established by some of the teams at the origin of this initiative, the increasing interest in these models in the academic and industrial arena, the necessity of raising standards in preclinical studies, and the need for covering as best as possible the patient’s tumour heterogeneity, a first meeting for multicentre discussion was organised at Institut Curie (Paris, France) in January 2013.

This first meeting already gathered 14 cancer centers and universities across 9 European countries and confirmed the high interest of all to engage in a joint initiative focusing on clinically relevant models of cancer.

Since then, 2 additional cancer centers joined including the Weill Cornell Medicine from the USA, and several additional meetings already allowed to clearly define the objectives of the Consortium, identify opportunities for funding, initiate discussions about common standards, and trigger a number of new collaborations for multicentre studies between the involved teams and additional scientists.

The main objectives of the consortium are:

• Create a multidisciplinary network of academic researchers in preclinical and translational oncology, clinical oncologists, pathologists, biostatisticians and bioinformaticians with a common goal of harnessing clinically relevant models of cancer, and in particular PDXs, and avoiding duplication of efforts. The network displays a wide range of expertise in technological platforms (e.g. NGS, molecular imaging…);
• Share PDX models and harmonize characterization and annotation of the models in a common database implemented for the Consortium collection;
• Elucidate standard operating procedures and harmonize working practices for implementation of PDX models, biobanking, biostatistics, protocol design and logistics for multicentre xenopatient trials, data analyses and reporting, with the goal to improve the reproducibility and predictability of preclinical and co-clinical studies;
• Perform research programs aiming in particular at i) a better characterisation of the models, ii) the development of new methodologies to overcome current limits of PDXs (e.g. humanisation strategies), iii) the implementation of new models in specific cancer subtypes to increase the representativeness of the collection, metastatic models or models resistant to standard therapies, iv) the development of complementary models for integration in innovative preclinical screening strategies (e.g. ex vivo 2D and 3D assays with PDX-derived primary cell cultures), v) the identification of new targets and novel therapeutic strategies for overcoming drug resistance, and vi) the discovery of predictive biomarkers for targeted therapies;
• Perform proof-of-concept collaborative multicentre and multipathology xenopatient preclinical trials for novel anticancer drugs or combinatorial strategies, within molecularly-defined tumor subsets and on a population scale, using the standards agreed, as a prelude for prospective clinical trials in humans. The Consortium will also perform co-clinical trials;
• Make publicly available as much as possible the results and data obtained from the work performed, to further reduce duplication of efforts within the scientific community;
• Teach young researchers state-of-the-art techniques related to PDX models and preclinical drug development;
• Participate in the improvement of the drug development process in oncology through more predictive preclinical and co-clinical studies, and ultimately contribute to the approval of new and effective therapeutic strategies for cancer patients.

The Consortium is working on a collaborative spirit, between EurOPDX members but also with other academic institutions, pharmaceuticals, and biotechs, and is not intended for performing any fee for service activities.

Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI)

The EIPM is one of four centers in the United States participating in the Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI), an international consortium that is generating novel, next-generation, tumor-derived culture models annotated with genomic, clinical, and biospecimen data. HCMI has over 200 organoid models that are available to the research community and whose goal is to generate and annotate up to 1000 next-generation cancer models derived from patient tissues. View the latest HCMI factsheet here. WCM joins this project through a subcontract with Leidos Biomedical Research, which operates the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research for the National Cancer Institute.  

ICGC ARGO

As members of the ICGC ARGO project, we are aiming to analyze biospecimens from at least 100,000 cancer patients with high quality clinical data to address current key outstanding questions that are vital to defeating cancer. The ARGO project is a new phase of the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Launched in 2019 after 10 successful years of the ICGC mapping genomic alterations that characterize over 50 cancer types.  The time has now come to translate this knowledge to improve outcomes for people affected by cancer.

NYGC Very Rare Cancer Consortium

The Very Rare Cancer Consortium (VRCC) aims to leverage the combined expertise from multiple institutions across New York City to advance efforts to improve research for very rare cancers. Through a network of 20 member institutions, this project will help to collect samples of very rare cancers in sufficient numbers to provide answers to important scientific questions, build research cohorts, and reduce the toll taken by understudied diseases.

BostonGene

BostonGene Corporation is pioneering the use of biomedical software for advanced patient analysis and personalized therapy decision making in the fight against cancer. BostonGene’s unique solution performs sophisticated analytics to aid clinicians in their evaluation of viable treatment options for each patient’s individual genetics, tumor and tumor microenvironment, clinical characteristics and disease profile. BostonGene’s mission is to enable physicians to provide every patient with the highest probability of survival through optimal cancer treatments using advanced, personalized therapies. 

Grail PATHFINDER 2 Study

The purpose of this study is to understand the performance of a multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test and the impact of the MCED test on patients and providers. The MCED test is a new test that can be used for early detection of different types of cancers. This test is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Illumina Whole Genome Sequencing Initiative

Seeking to advance the scope of precision medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Illumina, Inc. are entering into a collaboration to sequence the complete human genomes of thousands of consenting patients, in order to identify genetic alterations driving disease and potentially reveal previously unidentified therapies for treatment. The initiative, which also includes a collaboration between Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and the New York Genome Center (NYGC), aims to evaluate the diagnostic potential of whole-genome sequencing at scale, which allows the interrogation of the full genome sequence of a patient's DNA. The goal is to better understand health problems and potential disease risks of individual patients, and to design more effective treatments, including the choice of specific drugs and their dosing.  

NanoString Technologies, Inc.

NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSTG), a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research, announced the launch of the Spatial Atlas of Human Anatomy (SAHA) initiative, in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine, to create multicellular, single-cell, and sub-cellular maps of 30 non-diseased organs from a healthy and diverse population of adults.

OneThree Biotech 

OneThree Biotech is a New York based startup that uses a biology-driven artificial intelligence (AI) platform to optimize pre-clinical drug discovery and development. The company was founded by Neel S. Madhukar, Ph.D., Olivier Elemento, Ph.D., Coryandar Gilvary, Ph.D., and Bradlay Pryde. They were selected as part of the 2020 class of startups for Grand Central Tech and the platform has won awards such as "Most Innovative Technology" award at the 2019 InnoHubei International Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. The technology has also been validated through a Phase 2 trial in H3K27M glioblastoma.