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Program Snapshot
The goal of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) is to help researchers uncover new insights into the biology of childhood cancer and congenital anomalies, including the discovery of shared genetic pathways between these disorders. Children with birth defects have an increased risk of developing childhood cancer. This suggests there are shared genetic pathways underlying some types of childhood cancer and congenital anomalies.
The Kids First program is in its second iteration, Kids First 2.0, which continues to advance the groundwork laid in the program's first ten years. Kids First is achieving this goal through two initiatives: 1) identifying children with childhood cancer and structural birth defects and their families for whole genome sequencing performed by the Kids First sequencing centers 2) developing the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource, a large-scale database of clinical and genetic data from patients with childhood cancers and congenital anomalies and their families. Analyzing genetic sequence data from children with childhood cancer and congenital anomalies together may lead to the discovery of new genetic pathways.
Clinical and genetic data from 36 of the Kids First projects are publicly available through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Portal , a cloud-based platform made up of tools to foster analyses and collaborations between childhood cancer and congenital anomalies research communities. Kids First is enabling new findings in birth defects and childhood cancers.
For an overview of the Kids First Program watch the video below:
Announcements
Kids First has over 36 Pediatric Cancer and Congenital Anomaly Datasets.
Check it out at the Kids First Data Resource Portal!
Kids First Cloud Credits Pilot is Open to All Researchers!
Cloud Credits are open and available to all researchers and sponsored by NIH. These credits enable researchers to conduct cloud-based analyses accessing Kids First data and utilizing the tools available through the Kids First Data Resource Center. The Cloud Credits program aims to lower barriers for using a web-based platform, building and sharing workflows, and analyzing Kids First and non-Kids First data in one cloud workspace. If you would like to participate in the Kids First Cloud Credits Pilot, please read and follow the instructions described in the pilot announcement. Requests are submitted and reviewed on a rolling basis for quick access to cloud credits. If you have any questions, please contact KidsFirst@od.nih.gov.
Learn more about the Kids First Cloud Credits Pilot Program.
Quick Links:
- Read the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act bill .
- Sign up for the NIH Common Fund’s Kids First email listserv to receive periodic updates on program planning and activities.
- NIH resources on Birth Defects:
- NIH resources on Childhood Cancers
- Cancer Facts and Figures from the American Cancer Society.
Health Relevance
Childhood cancers and structural birth defects have profound, lifelong effects on patients and their families. A risk factor for childhood cancer is being born with a birth defect , suggesting there are shared genetic pathways underlying some types of childhood cancer and structural birth defects. However, there are limited data about shared pathways that may lead to the development of both outcomes. The Kids First Data Resource will allow scientists to identify genetic pathways underlying these conditions and to explore some of these pathways are shared between them. These findings have the potential to improve prognostics and treatment decisions for childhood cancers. Clinical and genetic sequence data obtained through Kids First studies will be accessible to researchers everywhere through the Kids First Data Resource.
In 2015, Kids First selected seven cohorts of children with cancer or structural birth defects for whole genome sequencing. The DNA sequence data along with well-curated clinical phenotype data will be deposited into the forthcoming Kids First Data Resource. Genetic sequence and phenotype data from the Genomic Analysis of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia cohort is now publicly available. Learn more about Kids First selected cohorts .
The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource
Through its Data Resource Center and NIH X01 grant mechanism, Kids First supports data generation and data sharing in the cloud. To date, the program has supported the public release of data from 37 projects and made available nearly 30,000 genomes, representing structural birth defects and childhood cancer patients and families through the Kids First Data Resource Portal.
Funded Research
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| GLEESON, JOSEPH G | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO | Whole Genome Sequencing in Structural Defects of the Neural Tube |
| HONG, ANDREW L (contact) BRZEZINSKI, JACK J CROMPTON, BRIAN GILLANI, RIAZ LUPO, PHILIP J MURPHY, ANDREW J | EMORY UNIVERSITY | Basis of Childhood Kidney Cancers and Birth Defects |
| LIAO, ERIC CHIEN-WEI | CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA | Genomic, somatic and transcriptional and epigenetic profiling of non-syndromic and syndromic craniosynostosis |
| MESHINCHI, SOHEIL | FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER | Long-Read Sequencing of childhood AML, DS-AML, and TAM |
| SANNA-CHERCHI, SIMONE (contact) GHARAVI, ALI G | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES | Large-scale sequencing studies in congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract |
| SHAFFER, JOHN R (contact) MARAZITA, MARY L | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH | Epigenomics of orofacial clefts |
| TEACHEY, DAVID T (contact) MULLIGHAN, CHARLES G | CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA | Somatic and Germline Variants in Childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CODY, JANNINE DE MARS | UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER | Chromosome 18 Cohort Phenotype Enrichment to Strengthen the Gabriella Miller Kids First Program |
| SHIN, DONG-GUK (contact) BAYARSAIHAN, DASHZEVEG BECKER, TIMOTHY JAMES | UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS | Structural Variation analysis of Orofacial Cleft associated genomic regions in African and Asian populations |
| TURRO, ERNEST | ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI | Bayesian genetic association analysis of all rare diseases in the Kids First cohort |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| GABRIEL, STACEY | BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. | GMKF competing renewal |
| LEVY, SHAWN E | HUDSON-ALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY | Characterizing pediatric genomes through an optimized sequencing approach |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| RESNICK, ADAM CAIN (contact) CARROLL, ROBERT J DIGIOVANNA, JACK FERRETTI, VINCENT GROSSMAN, ROBERT L HAENDEL, MELISSA A HEATH, ALLISON TAYLOR, DEANNE MARIE VOLCHENBOUM, SAMUEL | CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA | Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource Center: Advancing Collaborative Platform-Enabled Data-Driven Discovery at the Intersection of Childhood Development and Cancer |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| LUPO, PHILIP J (contact) HEATH, ALLISON RESNICK, ADAM CAIN | BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE | Deep Phenotyping Children with Congenital Anomalies and Cancer Enrolled in Project:EveryChild |
| MARAZITA, MARY L | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH | Enhanced Data from Orofacial Cleft Trios to Strengthen the Gabriella Miller Kids First (GMKF) Discovery Goals |
| ROSSER, TRACIE C | EMORY UNIVERSITY | Enriching medical phenotypes and environmental traits in the large DS360 Down syndrome cohort |
| SCHATZ, MICHAEL | JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY | Optimized workflows for structural variant analysis of the Kids First genomes using short and long reads |
| SMITH, CYNTHIA LOUISE (contact) WESTERFIELD, MONTE | JACKSON LABORATORY | Curation of Model Organism Phenotype and Disease Model Data to Augment Gabriella Miller Kid's First Data Sets for Enhanced Discovery and Therapeutic Development |
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CHUNG, WENDY K (CONTACT) SHEN, YUFENG | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES | Genomic Analysis of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and Associated Congenital Anomalies |
| MARAZITA, MARY L. (CONTACT) FEINGOLD, ELEANOR | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH | Kids First: Genomics of Orofacial Cleft Birth Defects in Latin American Families |
| WEAVER,KATHRYN | CINCINNATI CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER | Genetic diagnoses in a cohort of individuals with valvar pulmonary stenosis |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| GABRIEL, STACEY | BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. | Genome Sequencing in support of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program |
| LEVY, SHAWN E (contact) ZHANG, JINGHUI | HUDSON-ALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY | Characterizing pediatric genomes through an optimized sequencing approach |
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| RESNICK, ADAM CAIN (contact) DAVIS-DUSENBERY, BRANDI NICOLE FERRETTI, VINCENT GROSSMAN, ROBERT L. HAKONARSON, HAKON KURAL, DENIZ MARGOLIN, ADAM ARNE STEIN, LINCOLN D TAYLOR, DEANNE MARIE VOLCHENBOUM, SAMUEL | CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA | Innovation through collaboration at the intersection of childhood development and cancer: a platform for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource Center |
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at the Broad Institute's or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology's NIH supported sequencing center.
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CHUNG, WENDY K (contact) SHEN, YUFENG | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES | Genomic Analysis of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and Associated Congenital Anomalies |
| MARAZITA, MARY L. (contact) FEINGOLD, ELEANOR | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH | Kids First: Genomics of Orofacial Cleft Birth Defects in Latin American Families |
| MARIS, JOHN M | CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA | Genetic basis of neuroblastoma initiation and progression |
| MULLIGHAN, CHARLES G (contact) METZGER, MONIKA NICHOLS, KIM ERIKA SANDLUND, JOHN YANG, JUN J | ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL | Genomic analysis of familial leukemia |
| PLON, SHARON E. | BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE | Identifying novel cancer susceptibility mutations from unselected childhood cancer patient and parent trios |
| RIOS, JONATHAN | UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER | Genomics of Orthopaedic Disease Program |
| SEIDMAN, CHRISTINE E. | HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL | Discovery of De Novo and Inherited Mutations that Cause Prevalent Birth Defects |
| SHEN, JUN (contact) MORTON, CYNTHIA CASSON | BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL | Hear-n-Seq: Sequencing Kids First for Hearing |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| GABRIEL, STACEY | BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. | Genome Sequencing in support of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program |
| LEVY, SHAWN E (contact) ZHANG, JINGHUI | HUDSON-ALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY | Characterizing pediatric genomes through an optimized sequencing approach |
The following principal investigators were awarded access to sequence structural birth defects cohorts or childhood cancer cohorts at Baylor College of Medicine's or Washington University's NIH supported sequencing center.
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CHUNG, WENDY K. | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES | Genomic Analysis of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia |
| ENGLE, ELIZABETH C. | CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CORPORATION | BCH Structural Birth Defects Collaboration: Syndromic cranial dysinnervation disorders |
| MARAZITA, MARY L. | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH | Genomic Studies of Orofacial Cleft Birth Defects |
| ONEL, KENAN | THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO | An Integrated Clinical and Genomic Analysis of Treatment Failure in Pediatric Osteosarcoma |
| SCHIFFMAN, JOSHUA, DAVID | UNIVERSITY OF UTAH | Genetic Contribution to Ewing Sarcoma in 330 parent-Offspring Trios |
| SEIDMAN, CHRISTINE E, | PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE | Discovery of the Genetic Basis of Structural Heart and Other Birth Defects |
| VILAIN, ERIC | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES | Genetic Basis of Disorders/Differences of Sex Development (DSD) |
| PI Name | Institution Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| GIBBS, RICHARD A | BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE | The Human Genome Sequencing Center |
| WILSON, RICHARD K | WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY | A Platform for Large-Scale Genomic Discovery |