The Lasting Impact of The Cancer Genome Atlas

Abstract

The Cancer Genome Atlas started in 2006 with the goal to characterize the genomic and molecular changes in 10,000 cancers. This project, spanning over a decade, started in the world of “first generation” sequencing and array-based platforms and transitioned into the realm of next generation sequencing uncovering the landscape of alterations for over 33 tumor types. Through many challenges, TCGA established early approaches for large scale genomics projects, the challenges of early biospecimen collection, handling the difficulty of clinical data collection, and shaped the world of collaborative team science. TCGA stressed public data sharing, allowing for researchers around the world to use their data leading to an impact larger than the original marker papers established by the project with over 35,000 publications referenced in pubmed. Results from TCGA have changed the way we think about data collection, data sharing, collaborative research and have led to changes in clinical practice.