Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research (Kids First)
Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research (Kids First)
NIH Common Fund’s Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program
Program Snapshot
The goal of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) is to help researchers uncover new insights into the biology of childhood cancer and congenital anomalies, including the discovery of shared genetic pathways between these disorders. Children with birth defects have an increased risk of developing childhood cancer. This suggests there are shared genetic pathways underlying some types of childhood cancer and congenital anomalies.
The Kids First program is in its second iteration, Kids First 2.0, which continues to advance the groundwork laid in the program's first ten years. Kids First is achieving this goal through two initiatives: 1) identifying children with childhood cancer and structural birth defects and their families for whole genome sequencing performed by the Kids First sequencing centers 2) developing the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource, a large-scale database of clinical and genetic data from patients with childhood cancers and congenital anomalies and their families. Analyzing genetic sequence data from children with childhood cancer and congenital anomalies together may lead to the discovery of new genetic pathways.
Clinical and genetic data from 36 of the Kids First projects are publicly available through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Portal, a cloud-based platform made up of tools to foster analyses and collaborations between childhood cancer and congenital anomalies research communities. Kids First is enabling new findings in birth defects and childhood cancers.
For an overview of the Kids First Program watch the video below:
Quick Links:
- Read the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act bill.
- Sign up for the NIH Common Fund’s Kids First email listserv to receive periodic updates on program planning and activities.
- NIH resources on Birth Defects:
- NIH resources on Childhood Cancers
- Cancer Facts and Figures from the American Cancer Society.
Announcements
Register for the Kids First Spring Webinar, Spring Training: From Bench to Bedside, an event highlighting how Kids First data is translating into patient-first decision-making, next Wednesday, May 21, 2025, from 10:30 a.m. to noon ET.
Kids First Releases its 36th Dataset!
Check it out at the Kids First Data Resource Portal.
Kids First Cloud Credits Pilot is Open to All Researchers!
Cloud Credits are open and available to all researchers and sponsored by NIH. These credits enable researchers to conduct cloud-based analyses accessing Kids First data and utilizing the tools available through the Kids First Data Resource Center. The Cloud Credits program aims to lower barriers for using a web-based platform, building and sharing workflows, and analyzing Kids First and non-Kids First data in one cloud workspace. If you would like to participate in the Kids First Cloud Credits Pilot, please read and follow the instructions described in the pilot announcement. Requests are submitted and reviewed on a rolling basis for quick access to cloud credits. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
Learn more about the Kids First Cloud Credits Pilot Program.
The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource
Through its Data Resource Center and NIH X01 grant mechanism, Kids First supports data generation and data sharing in the cloud. To date, the program has supported the public release of data from 30 projects and made available nearly 30,000 genomes, representing structural birth defects and childhood cancer patients and families through the Kids First Data Resource Portal.
