What if researchers could switch off a gene inside a cancer cell and discover that the cancer could no longer survive without it?
Finding vulnerabilities like that is part of the work the Target Discovery Core (TDC) at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute makes possible.
Cancer research can generate an enormous number of clues.
Genomic sequencing may reveal altered genes. Researchers may discover that certain proteins are unusually active. A cancer cell may respond differently to a drug than expected.
But finding something unusual does not automatically mean researchers have found a good treatment target.
They have to test it.
That is where the Target Discovery Core comes in.
The TDC gives researchers access to technologies designed to help identify and validate the genes, proteins and biological pathways that cancer cells depend on.
One of its most powerful tools is CRISPR screening.
Many people have heard of CRISPR as a gene-editing technology. In cancer research, scientists can also use CRISPR on a much larger scale—systematically disrupting genes in cancer cells and observing what happens.
Does the cancer cell stop growing?
Does it die?
Does it suddenly become more sensitive to a drug?
Does removing one gene expose another weakness?
Those experiments can help researchers separate the thousands of biological changes occurring in cancer from the ones that may actually be important.
Think of it as looking for the weak link in cancer’s machinery.
The TDC can perform both pooled and arrayed CRISPR screens, allowing researchers to investigate genes across the human genome or focus on specific gene groups tied to a particular biological question.
Researchers can also use RNA interference, or RNAi, another method to reduce the activity of selected genes and study their effects on cancer cells.
But identifying a promising target is only the beginning.
The TDC also provides gene-editing capabilities that allow researchers to create carefully controlled cell models. Scientists can change a specific gene and then compare those cells with otherwise nearly identical cells to determine whether that change really affects cancer behavior.
The facility can also test individual drugs and drug combinations across multiple cancer cell lines in a high-throughput setting.
That can help researchers ask another critical question:
If we have identified a weakness, is there a way to exploit it?
The TDC also supports technologies that can help determine which proteins a drug interacts with—an important step when researchers observe that a compound affects cancer cells but still need to understand exactly how it works.
Together, these capabilities help researchers move from:
“We found something interesting.”
to
“We have evidence that this may be important.”
to
“Now we can investigate whether it could lead to a new therapeutic strategy.”
For scientists studying childhood cancer, that bridge between discovery and testing is critical.
The Target Discovery Core works with investigators studying pediatric cancers and other cancers, providing specialized technology and scientific expertise that individual laboratories may not otherwise have readily available.
And those capabilities continue to grow.
In 2025, the TDC underwent a major expansion with support from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas, strengthening its ability to help researchers identify and validate therapeutic targets and investigate difficult-to-treat cancers.
The Target Discovery Core does not develop a new cancer treatment overnight.
That is not how science works.
Instead, it helps researchers answer one of the most important questions in cancer research:
Of all the differences we can find inside a cancer cell, which ones can we actually act on?
Finding that answer can reveal the next experiment.
The next target.
And, ultimately, the next possibility for a better treatment.
🎗️ That is the science behind the Gold Ribbon.
During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we’re highlighting not only the scientists studying childhood cancer, but also the specialized people, technologies and research resources that make those discoveries possible.
🔬 Learn more about the Target Discovery Core at Greehey CCRI.
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