Center for Patient Derived Models (CPDM)

Contact CPDM

To see the list of our cancer models, please register to access the CPDM Pan-Cancer Patient Derived Models cBioPortal database. Once you receive a confirmation email from our team, please log in to Dana-Farber's private cBioPortal platform. See our User Guide for instructions for logging in and using CPDM's database.

To request services, view a list of services, or generate a quote, contact us at models@dfci.harvard.edu.

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Support the Center for Patient Derived Models

Support the work of the Center for Patient Derived Models on the Center's Giving page.

Advances in our ability to make cancer models from individual patients have created a great opportunity and a new need to incorporate individual patient model generation into clinical trials of experimental therapies. We can now use these models to test therapeutics almost in real time — to identify what therapy the patient may or may not be likely to respond to and therefore, have real potential to change cancer care.

The Center for Patient Derived Models (CPDM) facilitates model availability and quality for Dana-Farber investigators and the wider cancer community. CPDM supports researchers by generation, characterization, storage, and distribution of models of various types, including patient derived cell lines (PDCL), patient derived xenograft models (PDX), and fresh cell preparations.

Our Center's Goals

  • Method Development: Develop and use novel modeling and testing methods for patient derived models.
  • Cancer Models: Increase the number of characterized patient derived models available in all adult and pediatric cancers.
  • Infrastructure: Create a centralized and specialized infrastructure and resource to enable better access to patient derived cancer modeling capabilities across Dana-Farber, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Boston Children's Hospital.
  • Functional Diagnostics: Accelerate the use of patient derived cancer models as functional diagnostic assays for sensitivity testing in clinical trials and validated clinical indications.
  • Collaboration: Develop relationships with industry and academia to access and assess new technologies – to develop, characterize, and test patient derived cancer models.
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Keith L. Ligon, MD, PhD, is director of the Center for Patient Derived Models (CPDM). He is an associate professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School with joint appointments at Dana-Farber, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). He is chief of Neuropathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His research and clinical activities have improved the scientific understanding of brain tumors.

Learn About Our Services

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New Patient Derived Model Creation

See how we support the creation of patient derived cell lines (2D, 3D spheroid, or organoid); patient derived xenografts (PDX); as well as acute cell sensitivity to drug models (ACSD) from patient tumors.

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Models for Immuno-Oncology

Read about our collection of PDX and PDCL models for which have patient-matching PBMCs available for in vivo or ex vivo studies.