About Us

Founding Principles

Herein are defined the founding principles of the Compendium of Cancer Genome Aberrations (CCGA), which are based on CCGA development through interdisciplinary and community consensus efforts for use as a freely accessible resource.  These founding principles are supported by CCGA leadership (Editor-in-Chief and CCGA steering committee) and CCGA Workgroup members, and approved by the Cancer Genomic Consortium Board of Directors (CGC BOD).

• Democratization of Genomic Knowledge:  The CGC and CCGA are dedicated to offering genomic resources to the community.  The CCGA is currently and will remain an open-access (i.e. free and public) resource.
• Inclusivity and Diversity:  The CCGA and CGC actively promote diversity and inclusivity of contributors with various backgrounds, institutions, nationalities and experience levels in the field who have applicable knowledge and/or expertise.  Contributors and users of the CCGA are encouraged, but not required, to be CGC members.
• Community Collaborations:  The CCGA brings together cancer genetics and genomics knowledge through curation and connections to existing resources. The CCGA and CGC form strategic partnerships with other organizations and project leaders who have similar core principles and complementary goals.
• Learning and Teaching: The CCGA is an educational resource.  Information in the CCGA is freely available for educational purposes.  Trainees are also encouraged to contribute to the creation and maintenance of CCGA content with guidance and support from mentors.

Mission

The CCGA is a global collaborative effort to describe clinical context-based knowledge for gene- and chromosome-level abnormalities observed in cancer.

Goals

• Provide a centralized resource of genetic correlates for pathologic entities, structured based on current disease-level WHO classification system, with direct links to significant internal and external site content.
• Support real-time updating and sharing of clinically relevant content that is peer-reviewed and easily searchable.
• Engage community experts and their trainees in curating, updating and utilizing content.
• Include cancer variant knowledge identified through diverse methods and across multiple disciplines.
• Facilitate building educational content that describes the latest advancements in the field.

Vision

The global hub for clinical cancer genomic aberrations.

Support

The CCGA is a Cancer Genomics Consortium (CGC)-supported resource.

Leadership

Meet our Editorial Leadership, CCGA Workgroup Members and Communications Liaison.

Policies

Policy for Granting of CCGA Contributor Access

The Compendium of Cancer Genome Aberrations (CCGA) is a crowdsourced resource, with content created and modified in real time by users given a username and password.  This policy defines the process for determining new user access for creating and editing content.

1. Any member of the CCGA Knowledgebase workgroup or Genomic Resources Development Committee (GRDC) may provide access immediately if requested to do so by an individual. However, typically accounts will be created by the Technical Editor following receipt of a completed Volunteer Form.
2. The person who provides access will add the new contributor information into the user access log at User Access Log.
3. It is encouraged that ABMGG trainees, pathology residents or other post-graduate trainees collaborate with a mentor/sponsor who can help curate their work.
4. Individuals will be required to review and agree with the “Honor Code for CCGA Content Contributor” which is part of the initial Volunteer Form.
5. The CCGA leadership reserves the right to deny CCGA site authorship/editorial access to any applicant and to remove access as deemed appropriate.

Policy for Inclusion of Figures on the CCGA Site

Use of illustrative figures on the CCGA is encouraged. This policy defines the process for inclusion of a figure.

1. For figures created by an individual or provided from their lab, the PHI must be removed and the submitter’s name and institution included in the figure legend.
2. For figures from any other source (such as a website or published paper), a link to the image content, if openly accessible, can be used on the CCGA page.  If such a link is not possible, written permission must be obtained by the person creating the CCGA page before addition to the page.  This written permission should be shared with the Associate Editor of the related section and copied to ccga@cancergenomics.org.  The figure legend should include the appropriate reference and confirmation that permission was obtained.