Sanford among children’s hospitals using genetics to change pediatric care
July 2, 2018
This paid piece is sponsored by Sanford Health.
Seven children’s hospitals across the United States are collaborating to rapidly integrate genetics and genomics into primary and specialty pediatric care.
The mission of the Sanford Children’s Genomic Medicine Consortium is to work together on innovative clinical program development, advocacy for children, cutting-edge research and educational programs for the future of genomic medicine.
The seven member hospitals include:
- Sanford Children’s in Sioux Falls.
- Sanford Children’s in Fargo.
- Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
- Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora.
- Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.
- Banner Children’s at Diamond Children’s Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz.
- Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.
Sanford Health has provided $500,000 in seed funding for consortium projects in the next year.
The initial projects funded by the consortium include a study of rapid whole genomic sequencing in critically ill newborn infants and a study evaluating the routine use of an extensive, pediatric-focused, next-generation sequencing panel in the diagnosis of childhood cancers.
Genetic diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. These children often undergo an extensive and expensive diagnostic process that may not lead to a final diagnosis.
Identify the risk
Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, president and CEO of Rady Children’s Institute of Genomic Medicine, is leading rapid whole genomic sequencing in critically ill newborn infants to determine the complete DNA sequence of a child’s genome at one time to identify the risk of genetic diseases.
Currently, the average turnaround time for sequencing to diagnosis by the RCIGM team is less than a week. That is significantly faster than the common timetable for this type of work, which can take weeks to complete.
“The future of pediatric medicine is being transformed by the ability to rapidly decode the genomes of the most fragile newborns to deliver exact diagnoses and targeted treatment,” Kingsmore said.
Pediatric cancers have different genetic origins compared with adult cancers. Current panels for detecting the genetic origins of a tumor primarily focus on adult cancers. OncoKids, developed at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is specifically formulated to detect the genomic alterations of pediatric cancers including leukemia, lymphoma and bone, soft tissue and brain tumors.
“The ability to identify the precise underlying genomic alterations in individual tumors with OncoKids allows us to personalize care and innovate how we treat children with cancer,” said Dr. Alexander R. Judkins, pathologist-in-chief and executive director of the Center for Personalized Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Gains from collaboration
Extending precision medicine to children’s health through this consortium is inspired by the vision of Denny Sanford. In 2014, the health care philanthropist gave $125 million to Sanford Health to create Sanford Imagenetics, the first program in the nation to embed the latest in genomic medicine with primary care.
“I am thankful to each member for their participation in the Sanford Children’s Genomic Medicine Consortium,” said Dr. Gene Hoyme, medical director of the consortium. “So much can be gained for the care of children through the collaboration of these hospitals.”
