Low-Cost and Accurate Testing of High-Grade Brain Tumors

Award: $130,000 over 1 year
Principal Investigators: Carl Koschmann, MD and Jack Wadden, PhD, University of Michigan
Funding Partners: Catching Up With Jack, Hope for Kids, and the Bradley Zankel Foundation

Pediatric high-grade gliomas and diffuse midline gliomas are devastating childhood brain tumors. Tumor sequencing can provide a more accurate diagnosis and prognosis for these tumors and has become increasingly important for proper disease management, clinical trial enrollment, and treatment response monitoring. Unfortunately, tumor sequencing takes too long (2-4 weeks) to immediately inform clinicians/patients and repeated tumor biopsy to adjust treatment strategy isn’t safe or feasible. This project addresses these issues with an interdisciplinary approach leveraging expertise in computer science and pediatric neuro-oncology. The first aim of this project is to use low-cost DNA sequencers and pHGG-focused assays to offer patients a more rapid molecular diagnosis. The second aim of this project is to reduce the need for lumbar punctures for serial tracking of tumor response in the clinic by using blood plasma samples instead of CSF. The samples will then leverage novel bioinformation error correction techniques to enable rapid, low-cost, accurate detection of tumor response directly from patient plasma.