Whole genome characterization core facility will employ clinically applicable, state-of-the-art sequencing technology
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Timothy J. Triche, MD, PhD, has been awarded $1.05 million by the United States Department of the Army to implement next generation gene sequencing to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of high-risk childhood cancer. Dr. Triche is director of the Center for Personalized Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“With this award we will develop the infrastructure to create a center for precision medicine to enable genomic profiling of life-threatening disease in children and young adults”
“With this award we will develop the infrastructure to create a center for precision medicine to enable genomic profiling of life-threatening disease in children and young adults,” said Dr. Triche.
Current genomic technology has provided invaluable insights into the genetic basis of cancer and other serious illnesses. However, these methods are limited in their ability to provide an integrated, detailed view of the underlying genetics in a clinical setting due to their cost and lengthy time to completion, often measured in months.
“We plan to establish a next generation whole genome characterization core facility at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that utilizes newly available sequencing technology that can detect even the smallest change in a patient’s DNA or RNA,” said Dr. Triche. “Most importantly, rapid advances in the underlying technology, coupled with extraordinary decreases in the cost, now make it feasible to apply this technology to actual patient samples and derive useful information in days instead of weeks or months, as was the case until recently. These integrated, detailed genomic profiles can provide unprecedented insight into the fundamental properties of diseases like cancer, where even a small variation is enough to promote disease.”
This facility will be the first genomic profiling center using so-called “next generation” genome sequencing to study diseases of the young.
The Saban Research Institute at Children's Hospital Los Angeles is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States, with 100 investigators at work on 186 laboratory studies, clinical trials and community-based research and health services. The Saban Research Institute is ranked eighth in National Institutes of Health funding among children’s hospitals in the United States.
Founded in 1901, Children's Hospital Los Angeles is one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals and is acknowledged worldwide for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Children's Hospital Los Angeles is one of only seven children’s hospitals in the nation – and the only children’s hospital on the West Coast – ranked for two consecutive years in all 10 pediatric specialties in the U.S. News & World Report rankings and named to the magazine’s “Honor Roll” of children’s hospitals.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles is a premier teaching hospital and has been affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932.
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