This project raised $10,012.62 with 91 science-loving contributors, like you!

See: Progress Report #1 & Progress Report #2

Progress Report #1

July 2022

Thank you to everyone for your contribution to our crowdfunding campaign!

As you might recall from our campaign, in this project we are analyzing the origins of childhood leukemia at the level of the individual cell by way of interrogating the specific mutations required in each leukemic cell throughout the progression of disease in a cohort of 45 pediatric patients. So far we have made the following progress because of your support:

To date, we have ordered all the kits, reagents and supplies that will be needed for preparing the patient samples, and have started some of our key experiments. 

In order to sequence the genomes of individual cells we need happy live cells so we have first optimized our preparation of the samples. This involves quick thawing of the frozen bone marrow sample and removing any dead cells from the suspension. Immediately after thawing, it is important that we keep the intact live cells cold by placing them on ice. 

Next, we load the patient cells onto the Mission Bio Tapestri instrument and encapsulate the individual cells in oil droplets. We can then perform the reactions necessary to label the individual cells and determine which mutations they carry.

Currently, we have encapsulated and barcoded 9 patient samples at diagnosis, remission and relapse for a total of 27 samples. Each of these samples contains ~4,000-5,000 individual cells that we can profile for their unique mutations.

Next up will be preparing and profiling the rest of the 40 patient cohort and optimizing our data analysis pipeline.

Thank you again for your support in making this project a reality! 

- Dr. Jessie Brown, Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University

Progress Report #2

January 2023

Thank you again to everyone that contributed to this campaign!

With the help of your contributions we have now prepared, isolated and sequenced our entire cohort of forty childhood AML patients! As we have samples from diagnosis, remission and relapse from these patients, we have in fact isolated cells and sequenced individual cells from a total of 78 patient samples using the Mission Bio Tapestri instrument.

Now that we have received the full sequencing results, we will continue to optimize our data analysis pipeline to look for mutations within individual cells and map the sequence of mutations that each patient undergoes as their disease progresses. In parallel, we are also beginning to complement our genetic studies with single-cell transcriptomic analyses to uncover the molecular pathways at play in our AML patient samples. More experimental updates coming soon!

We are also proud to mention that with the progress we’ve had so far, our team at Rutgers was also able to secure a New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research (NJCCR) Pediatric Cancer Research Grant in 2022.

Best,

Jessie Brown, PhD & team