Children's Brain Tumor Network

What Children's Brain Tumor Network does

Children's Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) is a nonprofit pediatric brain tumor research consortium founded in 2011 and headquartered within the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) at the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (D3b). The consortium operates a multi-institutional collaboration spanning 35 member institutions across 9 countries, engaging over 1,000 investigators and supporting more than 8,000 enrolled patient participants and 85,000+ curated biosamples. CBTN sustains 442+ active research projects and a publication record of 220+ peer-reviewed outputs, positioning itself as one of the largest dedicated pediatric brain tumor research data commons globally.

CBTN's core technology stack includes the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas (PBTA) as its primary data asset, the CAVATICA cloud-based analysis platform that standardizes workflows across consortium members, and the RADIANT AI Platform deployed across 200+ hospitals for automated response assessment in pediatric brain tumors. The consortium's revenue mechanics operate on a hybrid nonprofit model: large government grants (most prominently the $50M ARPA-H Pediatric Care eXpansion award), pharmaceutical sponsored research agreements with AstraZeneca, Bayer, and Chimerix, philanthropic and foundation support (including the recently integrated Bridge To A Cure Foundation), and industry-scale genomic partnerships (notably Illumina for up to 100,000 genomes). Data and analytical tools are provided without cost to academic nonprofit researchers, while pharma partnerships generate sponsored-research revenue.

The organization serves three principal customer segments: academic research institutions participating in the consortium, pharmaceutical and biotech companies requiring pediatric oncology data and translational biomarkers, and government agencies funding pediatric precision medicine initiatives. The recent integration of Bridge To A Cure Foundation extends CBTN's reach into family advocacy and donor networks, adding a downstream clinical-trial-recruitment and fundraising channel that complements its upstream research infrastructure.

Name

Children's Brain Tumor Network

Legal name

Children's Brain Tumor Network

Website

https://cbtn.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Children's Brain Tumor Network is a nonprofit pediatric brain tumor research consortium spanning 35 institutions across 9 countries, operating a data commons, AI platform, and biosample repository serving academic researchers, pharmaceutical partners, and government precision-medicine programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pediatric Cancer Research Data & Biospecimen Consortium

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Pediatric Neurology (HLAKAIAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Genomics & Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Services (HLAGANAA), Pediatrics & Adolescent Therapeutics (Digital) (HLACANAL)

Keywords

• Pediatric brain tumor research
• Genomic data platform
• Open science research
• Biomedical research consortium
• Clinical data sharing

Headquarters

HQ city

Philadelphia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Grants and Funding: CBTN receives significant federal funding from NIH, ARPA-H ($50M award for Pediatric Care eXpansion), National Cancer Institute's CCDI, and other U.S. government health agencies to support data infrastructure and research operations.
2. Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Partnerships: Collaborations with pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, Bayer, Chimerix, Jazz, Day One) and biotech firms for drug development, data analysis, and precision medicine enablement. These partnerships help manage complex data and accelerate pediatric brain tumor therapeutic development.
3. Foundation and Philanthropic Support: Funding from family foundations (Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, Lilabean Foundation, Swifty Foundation, and 20+ others) supporting infrastructure, research projects, and operational sustainability through various giving programs.
4. Free Resource Access for Nonprofit Researchers: CBTN provides data, biospecimens, and research resources at no cost to nonprofit researchers, funded by grants and philanthropic support rather than direct revenue from researchers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Children's Brain Tumor Network is a global nonprofit research consortium that operates the world's largest open-access pediatric brain tumor data ecosystem, providing researchers with access to 85,000+ biospecimens (tumor samples, cell lines, patient-derived models), AI-enabled analytics platforms, standardized clinical and molecular datasets, and collaborative research infrastructure across dozens of children's hospitals worldwide.

Product overview

CBTN operates as a global research consortium offering an integrated ecosystem of data platforms, AI-powered tools, and research services. The core offering is the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas (PBTA), the world's largest childhood brain tumor dataset, accessible through cloud platforms including CAVATICA, dbGaP, and the Kids First Data Resource Center. Key AI capability is RADIANT, a cloud-based AI platform integrating research and clinical data. CBTN Curated products (LGG-BRAF, GFAC Post-Mortem) provide disease-specific research-ready cohorts built on the M3 Approach (Multimodal, Multiomic, Multidisciplinary). Additional offerings include the Preclinical Models Portal for tumoroid and patient-derived models, the Gift from a Child tissue donation program, and structured research resource access with scientific committee review. Data types include clinical data, germline/somatic whole genome sequencing, methylation, RNA-Seq, proteomics, and medical imaging.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RADIANT AI: A cloud-based, AI-enabled platform designed to integrate research and clinical data across a child's care journey, turning discovery into actionable insight at the point of care. Backed by ARPA-H PCX program.
• Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas (PBTA)
• M3 Approach

Products and services

• Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas (PBTA)
• RADIANT AI Platform
• CBTN Preclinical Models Portal
• CBTN Curated | LGG-BRAF
• CBTN Curated | GFAC Post-Mortem
• CBTN Research Resources Access Program
• Gift from a Child (GFAC) Tissue Donation Program
• CBTN Scientific Projects Program
• M3 Approach

Quantifiable outcome

• 8,000+ patient & family participants enrolled
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability9 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• IlluminacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 April 2026Data partnership to advance pediatric cancer and rare disease research, analyzing 100,000 whole genomes from pediatric patients through cloud-based platforms. One of the largest unified genomic datasets ever assembled, made available through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center.
• ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 January 2026$50 million award for Pediatric Care eXpansion (PCX) program to scale national pediatric data infrastructure and deploy RADIANT AI platform across 200+ pediatric hospitals. Enables secure, real-time data sharing to deliver AI-driven research insights into patient care.
• Gift from a Child (GFAC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGFAC is a family-centered initiative honoring post-mortem pediatric brain tumor tissue donations. CBTN partners with GFAC to make tissue donation possible across most pediatric hospitals in the U.S., with Tissue Navigators guiding families through a compassionate process. The partnership has created the largest postmortem pediatric brain tumor collection in the world.
• Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource CentercoreTechnology or IntegrationProvides researchers open access to genomic and clinical data to drive discoveries in childhood disease. Houses the CBTN Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas (PBTA) genomic data. NIH-backed initiative enabling data harmonization and sharing.
• National Cancer Institute's Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorks with CBTN to expand childhood cancer data access and support large-scale precision medicine research. National initiative to aggregate and share childhood cancer data.
• NIH Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research (CPTAC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeverages CBTN as a trusted data site to advance proteogenomic insights into pediatric brain tumors. CBTN proteomic data available through CPTAC Proteomic Data Commons.
• AstraZenecamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPharmaceutical collaborator supporting CBTN's open-science ecosystem. Partnership vital for managing complex pediatric oncology data and enabling precision medicine drug development.
• BayermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPharmaceutical partner collaborating on pediatric brain tumor research. Contributes to drug development efforts by accessing CBTN's comprehensive biospecimen and data resources.
• ChimerixmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBiopharmaceutical company working with CBTN on pediatric brain tumor research, including studies on ONC201/ONC206 efficacy in DMG preclinical models.
• Jazz PharmaceuticalsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPharmaceutical collaborator supporting CBTN's research ecosystem for pediatric brain tumor therapeutic development.
• Day One BiopharmaceuticalsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBiopharmaceutical company focused on pediatric oncology, partnering with CBTN to advance childhood brain tumor research and drug development.
• Stingray TherapeuticsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBiotechnology company collaborating on pediatric brain tumor research, including studies on ENPP1 inhibition in medulloblastoma models.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or IntegrationCloud infrastructure partner supporting CBTN's open-access platform. Provides scalable cloud computing for managing massive genomic and clinical datasets.
• CAVATICA (Seven Bridges)coreTechnology or IntegrationSecure, cloud-based platform for storing, sharing, and analyzing massive genomic datasets. Integrated bioinformatics workflows fuel real-time collaboration across research teams worldwide.
• FlywheelmajorTechnology or IntegrationInnovation collaborator providing imaging data management platform. Brings imaging into the data ecosystem, supporting advanced radiomics and AI-powered image analysis.
• VelseramajorTechnology or IntegrationTechnology innovation partner supporting the backbone of CBTN's open-access platform for genomic and clinical data management.
• GitHubmajorTechnology or IntegrationInnovation collaborator supporting software development and version control for CBTN's open-source research tools and data platforms.
• CelerDatamajorTechnology or IntegrationInnovation collaborator supporting data infrastructure for CBTN's cloud-based analytics and research platforms.
• MuleSoftmajorTechnology or IntegrationInnovation collaborator providing integration technology supporting CBTN's data ecosystem connectivity and interoperability.
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) - Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine (D3b)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOperations center for CBTN. Houses world's largest pediatric brain and CNS tumor biorepository. Executive oversight team drawn from D3b leadership, with Dr. Adam Resnick serving as Scientific Co-Director of CBTN.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Kids First Data Resource Center Portal: Genomic data portal for childhood cancer and structural birth defects — shares datasets and infrastructure with CBTN. Comparable cloud-based data access model for pediatric cancer researchers.
• cBioPortal (Memorial Sloan Kettering): Open-access platform for visualizing and analyzing large-scale cancer genomic datasets. Direct functional peer of PedcBioPortal that CBTN uses for open-access pediatric cancer data exploration.
• Children's Oncology Group (COG): The world's largest pediatric cancer research consortium, with which CBTN directly integrates via the RADIANT AI rollout through COG's 200+ hospital network. Same basic model (multi-institution pediatric cancer research), same customer base (children's hospitals), same end goal (translational pediatric cancer research).
• Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC): NCI-funded multi-institutional consortium specifically focused on pediatric brain tumor clinical trials and translational research. Directly comparable indication focus, member institution structure, and translational research mandate.
• NCI Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI): National-scale NCI initiative to aggregate and share childhood cancer data — directly partners with CBTN for large-scale precision medicine work. Overlapping mission, downstream competitive funder positioning.
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: Runs its own large pediatric cancer genomics initiatives (e.g., St. Jude CancerSEEK, Pediatric Cancer Genome Project) and houses a major pediatric brain tumor program. Comparable mission and scale in pediatric oncology data and biospecimen generation.
• Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center: NIH-backed centralized ecosystem for childhood cancer and structural birth defects genomic data — actually houses CBTN's PBTA dataset. Closely aligned platform mission, shared data infrastructure, and joint distribution channel.

Broad incumbents

• TERRA (Broad Institute): Broad Institute's cloud-based genomic analysis platform used across major research consortia. Comparable cloud-based collaborative genomic research platform category as CAVATICA/RADIANT.
• DNAnexus: Commercial cloud genomics platform used by large-scale NIH/precision medicine programs. Provides the underlying technology and infrastructure class that CAVATICA and similar platforms (including CBTN) operate in.
• Seven Bridges (CAVATICA): Provider of the CAVATICA cloud platform through which CBTN data is delivered. Direct technology partner and platform peer in the pediatric/genomic data ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

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Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Children's Brain Tumor Network