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«Zurich Precision Oncology for Children» is the first UMZH Technology Initiative awarded in 2023. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourquin and Prof. Dr. Ana Guerreiro Stücklin from the University Children's Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich, a platform is being developed in collaboration with ETH Zurich, Balgrist University Hospital, and the University Hospital Zurich to pool health data for more precise therapies for children with difficult-to-threat cancers.

For children with relapsed/refractory cancers and high-risk disease, currently no standardized framework exists in Switzerland to offer state of the art molecular profiling and identification of therapeutic targets. The combination of advanced molecular profiling and ex-vivo drug response profiling emerges as a powerful approach to guide personalized treatment decisions and has become a prerequisite for entering molecularly guided clinical trials for children. For adult oncology patients, critical infrastructure for data (Swiss Personalized Health Network - SPHN), and tumor profiling (Tumor Profiler Center, Swiss Personalized Oncology National Data Stream SPO-NDS) is being implemented. Urgent gaps must now be filled to enable an innovative precision oncology program also for children.

ZPOC bundles resources to establish a platform at the UMZH-campus Lengg and will connect the Cancer Centre of the University Children's Hospital Zurich in concert with strong partners at UMZH with national initiatives (such as SPHN) and other leading centers of excellence across Europe. The heart of this pediatric oncology technology initiative is an expert team aiming to standardize and integrate clinical, molecular, and functional profiling data to guide complex treatment decisions for pediatric oncology patients.

Zurich Precision Oncology for Children (ZPOC): a multi-institutional UMZH platform embedded in the national and international landscape of pediatric precision medicine. Connectivity and opportunities for collaboration with the key stakeholders.