Background

Pediatric solid tumors are rare, biologically heterogeneous, and historically under-served by preclinical drug-screening platforms. Cell lines available from prior decades cover a narrow slice of patient biology, and few are linked to clinical outcomes. As Phase-I and Phase-I/II combination trials become more common in pediatric oncology, the field needs predictive models derived from the same patients who go on study — not models built decades earlier from unrelated tumors.

Objective

The biobank is a prospective, tissue-linked organoid resource built from consented pediatric trial participants at our center and partner sites. Every line is characterised across four axes — molecular (genome and transcriptome), protein (targeted proteomics), phenotype (morphology and growth dynamics), and pharmacology (drug-response screens against protocol-aligned panels). Clinical history, treatment, on-study response, and (where consent permits) shareable molecular data are linked back to each line.

Aims

• Derive and characterise organoid lines from neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, and atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors at the time of biopsy or surgical resection.
• Run protocol-aligned drug-response screens in each line and correlate screen results with on-trial clinical response in the matched patient.
• Share the resource with partner centres under data-use agreements that preserve patient privacy and enable cross-center validation.

The biobank is supported by a federal cooperative-agreement award and operates under an IRB-approved master tissue-banking protocol with re-consent options for new analyses. All sharing is governed by data-use agreements that respect family wishes.