This project is pushing boundaries in research, and so The Drew Barker- Wright Charity felt it was important to continue support forward into 2020. We have contributed £15,000 for 2020.

In 2019, with support from The Drew Barker-Wright Charity, the Chordoma Foundation analysed all available paediatric chordoma models for the presence or absence of three of the most important known molecular targets in chordoma; brachyury, p16 and INI1

Knowing the status of each of these proteins is important for understanding how representative the models are of the paediatric chordoma patient population, for guiding model selection for drug screening experiments, and for interpreting results of studies conducted in these models.

As a next step and moving forward for 2020, The Chordoma Foundation plan more in-depth model characterisation to evaluate the status of additional important targets in these models and to conduct genome-wide mutational and gene expression analysis to generate a more holistic picture of the molecular and genetic landscape of these models.

The Drug Screening Programme plans for two of the previously tested drugs to be tested in additional paediatric models. Furthermore, six more high priority drugs are in the queue for testing in paediatric models and they anticipate several more to be nominated by research collaborators this year. Every penny we contribute to this project allows quicker evaluation of these drugs, and shortens the timeline to determining whether any existing drugs may help patients with paediatric chordoma.