Singapore: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), US, and BGI-Shenzhen, China, announced a formal agreement to collaborate on research into next generation sequencing and analysis of pediatric brain tumors, in support of the Childhood Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium (CBTTC).

The research initiative will draw on the resources of the state-of-the-art Joint Genome Center BGI, which is located at CHOP. The center provides next generation sequencing (NGS) under CAP/CLIA guidelines, which represent the gold standard of quality in clinical laboratory testing.

CBTTC is a collaborative pediatric research group that brings together four institutions, including the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (which houses the Operations Center), the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Seattle Children's Hospital and Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The consortium is dedicated to the collection, annotation, and molecular analyses of children's brain tumors. In collaboration with BGI's genomics platforms, the new project will support the development of new and more effective forms of therapy targeted to each patient's specific subtype of brain tumor.

Dr Tom Curran, deputy scientific director, CHOP Research Institute, commented that, "These important efforts are made possible through the further extension of CHOP's productive collaboration with BGI, a world-class institution in the global genome sequencing arena that is using its scientific expertise and technological know-how to improve medical research."

"BGI is pleased to have deepened its relationship with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a global leader in pediatric care and research," said Dr Jun Wang, executive director of BGI-Shenzhen. "We look forward to a productive partnership that will accelerate advances in the research and treatment of pediatric brain tumors."