Development and improvement of DNAm and RNA sequencing analysis tools for cancer research
Official title: Development and Improvement of Research Software for DNA Methylation and RNA Sequencing Analysis
Funded at Van Andel Research Institute · NIH-11240095 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A software grant to build and share tools that help scientists study DNA methylation and single-cell RNA data to understand how cancer starts and progresses.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Van Andel Research Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Grand Rapids, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2026 |
| Project end | August 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $190,764 |
| NIH project number | 1R50CA305793-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11240095 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not a direct patient study; the work primarily advances computational methods used in cancer research.
✕Less likely to help
This grant does not involve recruiting patients or testing in humans.
What this research studies
This project supports a software engineer at Van Andel Institute who develops, documents, and distributes tools for analyzing DNA methylation and single-cell sequencing data. The work aims to create standards-compliant software that can handle diverse input data and automate quality control steps in cancer epigenomics. Researchers and clinicians could use these tools to better interpret methylation patterns and single-cell data in cancer research, potentially accelerating discoveries. The grant emphasizes open-source availability and real-world usability across bioinformatics platforms.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients may benefit indirectly through faster and more reliable cancer epigenomics analyses that inform biomarker discovery and personalized approaches.
How similar studies have gone: Previous tools and pipelines have been widely downloaded and adopted, indicating strong community usefulness, though ongoing improvements are needed.
Where this research is happening
-
Van Andel Research Institute
Grand Rapids, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Morrison, Jacob — Van Andel Research Institute
- Study coordinator: Morrison, Jacob
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.