International project delivers hundreds of next-generation models for cancer research
The open compendium links organoids with clinical and molecular data to help researchers test drugs and identify cancer vulnerabilities more quickly.
- On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, the Human Cancer Model Initiative published a compendium of 665 next-generation organoid cancer models in Nature, representing 25 cancer types now available to researchers worldwide.
- Traditional 2D cell lines often fail to capture tumor complexity and diversity, prompting this decade-long international effort to develop organoid models that more accurately reflect human cancer biology and therapeutic responses.
- Scientists analyzed 421 tumor sets, finding 97.8% agreement in genetic alterations between organoids and original tumors; the biobank includes 153 rare cancer models and 71 samples from individuals of non-European ancestry.
- Broad Institute researchers expanded the Cancer Dependency Map to include these 3D models, enabling CRISPR screening to identify genetic vulnerabilities in 162 organoids that could be targeted with new drugs.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Director David Tuveson stated that this collaborative resource bridges laboratory discovery and clinical care, providing tools to develop more personalized treatment strategies for patients.
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12 Articles
Largest Patient-Derived Organoid Biobank Maps Cancer Gene Dependencies
Cancer researchers have spent decades building genomic atlases of human tumors and using laboratory-grown cancer cell lines to uncover genes that drive cancer growth. Together, these efforts have transformed drug discovery and helped identify many of today’s targeted therapies. But an important gap has remained. Many cancer cell lines represent only a narrow slice of the diversity seen in patients, lack matched clinical information, and graduall…
Patient-derived organoid biobank maps cancer gene dependencies
A new open resource of patient-derived cancer models has enabled researchers to create the first large-scale map of the genes that cancers rely on to survive, offering new routes for research into better and less toxic treatments for patients.
PR Newswire
Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryCold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Northwell Health lead international cohort of researchers to develop more than 150 next-generation cancer treatment models
/PRNewswire/ -- Ten years and thousands of patient samples later, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has just published its results from the Human Cancer...
International project delivers hundreds of next-generation models for cancer research
Ten years and thousands of patient samples later, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has published its results from the Human Cancer Model Initiative (HCMI) on the development of 665 organoid models of 25 types of cancer that are now available to scientists worldwide.
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