Cancer remains a major cause of death in children. It is still difficult to collect and share large samples of clinical trials data across research groups, because everyone collects the data according to their own preferences and definitions. This limits researchers' ability to use a patients' clinical data and to match it to data from new techniques, like genomic testing, to make discoveries. The Pediatric Cancer Data Commons (PCDC) designs better ways to collect and store these clinical data and to connect these data to other types of data, such as imaging data (x-rays, CT scans) and genomic data, by developing and documenting a common language and standards. This allows others to see how our researchers are collecting, storing, sharing, and using clinical trials data so that others can also conduct research in the same way and then easily share and compare data sets across the world. The PCDC Consortium members are dedicated to gathering as much data as possible from around the world into a "data commons" - a single place where researchers everywhere can go to access these data so that they can explore the data and select the subsets of data that are useful for answering their research questions. Fund administered by The University of Chicago.

Pediatric cancer research remains limited by a lack of data sharing. While clinical trials remain the cornerstone of pediatric cancer breakthroughs, a consistent and reliable way to store and share data from these trials is lacking. The University of Chicago Pediatric Cancer Data Commons was established to solve this important problem. Sitting alongside the NCI's Genomic Data Commons, the PCDC serves as a neutral repository for data from clinical trials. This information is first converted into a commons format that is consistent across pediatric cancers. The PCDC allows researchers to search over thousands of patients' data to see quickly what data are available for study. Researchers can then apply for access to data, and the PCDC streamlines the process of requesting and downloading data. Finally, the PCDC connects researchers to other kinds of data, including genomic information so critical to studying pediatric cancer. This grant supports personnel to help build the PCDC, so that researchers can efficiently access data and create new ways to study pediatric cancer.

Based on progress to date, Dr. Volchenboum was awarded a new grant in 2012 to fund an additional two years of this Scholar award. Neuroblastoma strikes in many forms, some requiring little or no therapy, others deadly despite very aggressive treatment. Current tests that differentiate among these types can take weeks. Dr. Volchenboum is developing software to make real-time diagnosis possible, allowing therapy to be better tailored to the specific child. Once validated, these new technologies can be extended to other pediatric cancers.