Weill Cornell Medical College in New York joining the EurOPDX Consortium

The EurOPDX Consortium is now reaching out to the US, with the Board of Coordinators having very recently voted for Weill Cornell Medical College (WCM) in New York (NY, USA) to join.

Our collaboration with WCM started a few months ago for the set-up of an instance of the cBioPortal dedicated to PDX data from the Consortium members.

Indeed, the laboratory of Olivier Elemento (http://physiology.med.cornell.edu) focuses on cancer systems biology, with a strong focus on blood cancers. The lab has a wide experience in using the cBioPortal and working hands in hands with the neighbouring Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre team having developed this software, not only for patients data but also for PDX models. In particular Giorgio Inghirami, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, is focusing on haematological cancers and has established a wide collection of PDX models. Those models are part of a larger platform at WCM, the Experimental Therapeutics Program, where PDX models of solid tumours are also developed, as well as other patient-derived in vitro and in vivo models of cancer. This opens a wide range of opportunities for collaborations between WCM scientists and the European scientists member of EurOPDX.

Prof. Giorgio Inghirami will be sitting in the Board of Coordinators of the Consortium to also make us benefit from his experience when making strategic decisions for our Consortium.