Research Datasets Available for Medical Researchers, Geneticists Via Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program

Editor's Note: Our friends at the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program has an exciting announcement about newly available datasets for researchers. With more eyes on these datasets, we can get closer to causes for genetic, craniofacial conditions and syndromes. Take a look, share with your medical providers to see if they may have a research interest that might fit these datasets. Raise awareness through access to this wealth of raw data collected by researchers across the country. 

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program’s (“Kids First”) vision is to alleviate suffering from childhood cancer and structural birth defects by fostering collaborative research to uncover the etiology of these diseases and supporting data sharing within the pediatric research community. The program continues to generate and share whole genome sequence datasets from cohorts of children affected with these conditions (https://commonfund.nih.gov/kidsfirst/x01projects).  Researchers can access, aggregate, analyze, and share these data as well as associated clinical and phenotypic data through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource, which includes the public-facing, web-based portal, the Kids First Data Resource Portal(link is external), and cloud-based workspaces.

NIH has a strong interest in encouraging the use of this dataset to accelerate genetic discovery and ultimately inform clinical practice and improve health outcomes.  However, many excellent grant applications that involve utilizing Kids First data go unfunded.  Additional avenues of funding through collaborations with non-governmental organizations can amplify the value of these data and improve pediatric preventative measures, diagnostics, and therapeutic interventions.

To this end, the organizations listed on this website (https://commonfund.nih.gov/kidsfirst/secondchance) have agreed to be contacted by researchers who have applied for NIH grants (such as the Kids First R03) to analyze Kids First datasets, and whose applications were reviewed through the rigorous NIH peer review system, but who ultimately were not funded.

If you represent an organization that would like to provide a second chance to Kids First applicants or you are an applicant with questions about the Kids First Second Chance, contact [email protected]v(link sends e-mail).