Tools to determine a patient’s genetic ancestry from cancer samples
Official title: Computational tools for accurate inference of genetic ancestry from cancer-derived molecular data
Funded at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory · NIH-11307670 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Aimed at developing software to infer a person’s ancestral background using cancer-derived molecular data, without needing a separate genotyping test.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Cold Spring Harbor, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2024 |
| Project end | April 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $603,588 |
| NIH project number | 5U01CA289357-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11307670 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Patients whose cancer tissue data are used in research or whose samples are part of archived datasets may indirectly contribute to this work.
✕Less likely to help
Patients whose data are not included in the analyzed datasets may not directly benefit from the software development.
What this research studies
This project creates user-friendly software that can estimate genetic ancestry directly from cancer tissue data. It focuses on multiple cancer types to understand how ancestry-related biology may affect cancer behavior and outcomes. The work uses existing cancer molecular data repositories and archived tumor samples to build and test the ancestry inference methods. The goal is to enable researchers to study cancer with respect to ancestry at a large scale while protecting patient data. If successful, the tools could open up new avenues for understanding disparities in cancer biology and outcomes.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: It could improve our understanding of how ancestry influences cancer and help researchers interpret cancer data more accurately.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work in cancer genomics shows differences associated with ancestry, and this project extends those findings by enabling large-scale ancestry inference from tumor data.
Where this research is happening
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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Krasnitz, Alexander — Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Study coordinator: Krasnitz, Alexander
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.