Pediatric tissue bank to map gene activity during growth
Official title: Pediatric Biospecimen Procurement Center (BPC) Supporting the Developmental Gene Expression (dGTEx) Project
Funded at National Disease Research Interchange · NIH-11173056 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will collect and share healthy pediatric tissue samples to map how genes are active at different stages of childhood and adolescence.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | National Disease Research Interchange NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Philadelphia, United States) |
| Project start | September 9, 2021 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,357,016 |
| NIH project number | 5U24HD106537-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11173056 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are families willing to consent to pediatric tissue donation (including autopsy donations) and adult donors who provide comparison samples through participating hospitals or the procurement center.
✕Less likely to help
People looking for direct medical treatment or immediate personal health benefits would not benefit, because this project creates a research resource rather than offering therapies.
What this research studies
From a family's viewpoint, the project collects tissue samples from about 30 different organs across four childhood age groups and compares them to adult samples to see how gene activity changes as kids grow. Samples will come from coordinated donations, including post-mortem/autopsy consented donation, and will be processed for detailed analyses including single-cell measurements that look at individual cell types. The project also includes a study of the ethical, legal, and social issues around donating children's tissues so families' concerns guide the work. All data and results will be shared publicly to help doctors and researchers everywhere understand normal tissue development.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this resource could help clinicians diagnose, prevent, and develop better treatments for pediatric conditions by showing what healthy development looks like at the molecular level.
How similar studies have gone: The adult GTEx project has been successful in creating a public gene-expression resource, but applying these methods broadly to pediatric tissues is new and less established.
Where this research is happening
-
National Disease Research Interchange
Philadelphia, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bell, Thomas J — National Disease Research Interchange
- Study coordinator: Bell, Thomas J
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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.