# Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Project HOPE: The Pediatric/AYA Omics Project

> **NIH NIH P30** · DANA-FARBER CANCER INST · 2021 · $340,000

## Abstract

Summary/Abstract
High grade gliomas (HGG/GBM) across the pediatric, adolescent and young adult (AYA), and adult populations
represent a common unmet therapeutic need underpinned by the cellular heterogeneity of these tumors and
its contribution to treatment resistance and residual disease, the ultimate cause of death. Despite numerous
molecular studies across this age spectrum, high grade glioma and glioblastoma at recurrence remain poorly
characterized, despite being the context for most clinical trials. This project leverages multi-institutional
specimen cohorts that addresses the limited availability of paired longitudinal patient specimens and combines
such cohorts with state-of-the-art single-cell platforms to profile adult and pediatric gliomas through recurrence.
This effort represents a first in kind continuum of research initiative across the pediatric, AYA, adult HGG/GBM
landscape with Project HOPE (Pediatric and AYA High-Grade Glioma Omics Project) representing the
pediatric/AYA effort, and Project CARE (cellular analysis of resistance and evolution) representing the adult
effort. In the first 2 years of funding, we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) of malignant
cells, immune cells and non-immune microenvironmental cells in longitudinal samples of pediatric and young
adult and adolescent (AYA) high-grade gliomas and in adult IDH-wildtype glioblastoma, pre- and post-standard
of care therapy. We prioritized clinically annotated samples from children and AYA age groups (0 - 39 years
of age) and adult glioblastoma, IDH wildtype (47-67 years of age). We profiled patient-matched tumor
specimens from initial diagnosis and relapse. Our overall hypothesis is that a focus on dissecting all cancer
cells within a tumor as well as its microenvironment by single-cell RNA sequencing will lead to a better
understanding of these diseases and the development of more effective therapeutics to improve outcomes for
patients.
To continue our pursuit of this hypothesis, we propose the following aims:
 (1) Perform single cell multi-omics sequencing of cancer cells in pediatric and young adult and
 adolescent (AYA) high-grade gliomas
 (2) Perform single cell sequencing of the non-immune microenvironment of pediatric and AYA
 high-grade gliomas
 (3) Create unique Data Commons and Data Sharing platform to integrate Project Hope results
 with proteomics dataset and similar research done on adult samples.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10416351
- **Project number:** 3P30CA006516-56S7
- **Recipient organization:** DANA-FARBER CANCER INST
- **Principal Investigator:** LAURIE Hollis GLIMCHER
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $340,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-03-10 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10416351

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10416351, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Project HOPE: The Pediatric/AYA Omics Project (3P30CA006516-56S7). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10416351. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*