Cancer researchers are now partnering with colleagues across the country to create a network of information that they hope will revolutionize all aspects of cancer research. Researchers with the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa will work with 49 other cancer centers to create a massive information network. The goal is to link teams of cancer researchers, enabling them to share important data in the fight against cancer.
The network is called the Cancer Bioinformatics Grid, or caBIG. It will allow researchers from medical centers across the country to more effectively work together, bringing expertise from all sources of cancer research. University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is part of a select group picked by the NCI to lead the development of this network.
"This obviously is an ideal setting to try to take a look at how can we do a better job with information exchange and information processing," said George Weiner, M.D., director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center and C.E. Block Chair of Cancer Research.
"It was a natural place for the National Cancer Institute to look when they wanted to develop this caBIG initiative," Weiner said.
The Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center is already working on ways to improve information sharing in all aspects of cancer research. The hope is to take this data and turn it into more effective treatments for cancer.
"There may not be another opportunity of this scope in my lifetime," said Terry Braun, Ph.D., UI assistant professor of biomedical engineering and ophthalmology and visual sciences.
"This is going to be a model for solutions of this nature — not only for cancer — but if this is successful, ideally, we could apply this to other disorders," Braun said.
"It’s broad enough that it brings together a lot of diverse research capabilities across the computational and research spectrum," said Thomas Cassavant, Ph.D., director for the UI Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. "But it’s narrow enough to have a common theme that knits the members of that community together," Cassavant said.
Since the caBIG program was launched in 2003, more than 50 cancer centers have participated in its development.
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Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center
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George Weiner, M.D.
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