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Phenomic Liquid Biopsy Resource, Canada

Objective: Liquid biopsy (the analysis of cell-free DNA to identify tumour signatures) represents a major advancement in cancer diagnostics and early detection. However, there is currently no centralized repository for the large amount of genetic and epigenetic data generated by these cell-free DNA screens. Thus, this valuable data is being silo’ed into small, disconnected research spaces, which puts significant drag on the pace of liquid biopsy development. Goal of Project To improve the accessibility of liquid biopsy data, and in particular fragmentomic profiling data, we propose to develop the Phenomic Liquid Biopsy Resource (PLBR). The PLBR will act as a centralized repository for fragmentomic data, thereby decompartmentalizing the currently disjointed landscape of cfDNA screening data and allowing researchers to quickly and easily share this valuable data with their colleagues. Project Description Development of the proposed Phenomic Liquid Biopsy Resource will consist of three aims: Aim 1: Design a backend database schema that reflects the needs of the liquid biopsy research community. Aim 2: Build a front-end web application infrastructure to enable identification and export of reference fragmentomic profiles. Aim 3: Use PLBR in a pilot study to integrate data from sporadic cancers to detect early breast and prostate cancer in patients with hereditary cancer. Future Impact By centralizing and improving access to cfDNA screening data, the Phenomic Liquid Biopsy Resource represents a powerful synchronizing force between data generators and bioinformaticians. PLBR will facilitate the strong community of researchers at Princess Margaret in their efforts to gain new insights into cancer genomics via cfDNA analysis. In the short-term, this will enable numerous new collaborative research projects using the once-inaccesible wealth of fragmentomic data. In the long-term, the PLBR will result in improved detection of early-stage cancers as it facilitates further research into liquid biopsy technologies.