An international team led by MIT's Koch Institute, the Broad Institute, and other institutions has developed nearly 700 new patient-derived cancer tissue models representing 25 cancer types, culminating a 10-year National Cancer Institute initiative. Most models are organoids — 3D cell cultures that closely mimic the genetic and molecular features of original tumors. Over 2,700 tumor samples were collected from hospitals in the US, UK, and Netherlands, with about one-third successfully converted into usable models. All models are deposited at ATCC and freely available to researchers worldwide. Companion papers in Nature report high-throughput genomic profiling and CRISPR loss-of-function screens on 300+ models, with findings added to the Cancer Dependency Map (DepMap), now covering 2,000+ cancer types. Researchers aim to continue expanding the resource to include more pediatric and rare cancers.
