# Bioinformatics approaches to solve the "Missing Driver" problem in solid tumors

> **NIH NIH R50** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $113,415

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Cancers are extremely complex and variable, however a common feature appears to be
the presence of critical driver events (e.g. genetic mutations in tumor suppressors) that
drive tumor formation and progression. Key driver events, such as mutations in TP53,
have been identified in many well-studied tumors. However, many human solid tumors
do not have clearly identified driver events, even after common oncogenes and
tumor suppressors have been systematically examined. We have termed this the
“missing driver” problem. Our bioinformatics based approach to identify cancer driver
events is to use innovative analyses of forward genetic screens for tumor formation in
mice to identify genomic locations to systematically and exhaustively investigate within
the increasing amounts of human cancer tumor genome-wide data in both publicly
available as well as data generated within our lab. We expect to identify novel driver
events and that the elucidation of the complete spectrum of tumor driver events will be
extremely important to personalized approaches to cancer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9993405
- **Project number:** 5R50CA211249-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Aaron L Sarver
- **Activity code:** R50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $113,415
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-15 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9993405

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9993405, Bioinformatics approaches to solve the "Missing Driver" problem in solid tumors (5R50CA211249-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9993405. Licensed CC0.

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