Cancer Data Science Pulse

On April 6, Dr. Malachi Griffith will present the next Data Science Seminar, “Bioinformatics Approaches for Neoantigen Identification and Prioritization.” Here, Dr. Griffith tells how his tinkering with computers, bioinformatics, and genomics is helping him understand the complexities of this promising research area. If successful, neoantigen-based cancer therapies could prove to be the pinnacle of personalized medicine.

On March 23, Dr. Ben Raphael will present the next Data Science Seminar, “Quantifying tumor heterogeneity using single-cell and spatial sequencing.” In this blog, Dr. Raphael describes how he’s using this technology to dig deeper into the complexity of cancer.

In this blog, Dr. Elana J. Fertig describes how she is using artificial intelligence, blended with spatial and single cell technologies, to better understand how cancer will respond to treatment. Predicting the changes that occur in the tumor during treatment may someday enable us to select therapies in advance, essentially stopping the disease in its tracks before it reaches the next stage in its evolution.

Much of our current understanding of the microbiome’s role in cancer can be attributed to advances in DNA sequencing and data science. Here, we look at a key NCI-supported bioinformatics tool called QIIME 2, which is helping us better understand the microbiome and its impact on disease.

On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, Yanjun Qi, Ph.D., from the University of Virginia, will present “AttentiveChrome: Deep Learning for Predicting Gene Expression from Histone Modifications,” in the kickoff of the Fall Data Science Seminar Series. This blog offers insight on Dr. Qi’s research and why this topic is important to her.

Technological advancements, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, have made open data sharing more complex and put new pressure on existing laws that protect data privacy. This blog examines the privacy processes and policies that are helping address privacy concerns in today’s ever-changing “big data” landscape.

Data have been the driving force behind a number of important scientific discoveries. In this latest blog, Dr. Jerry Li describes how data helped power technological advances to unravel the human genome. What’s the next big advance? According to Dr. Li, the blending of data and artificial intelligence is the fastest moving area of research and has the potential to once again revolutionize scientific discovery.

Did you ever wonder what goes into making data ready for analysis by researchers around the world? Introducing “Datum.” This single speck of data was conceptualized to show how NCI’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology supports cancer research by bringing data to life.

Imagine a day when your healthcare is so personalized that there’s no guessing as to what medication will work best for you or whether you are at risk for a particular disease. This is a bold prediction recently addressed by genomic experts, Dr. Karen Miga and Dr. Evan Eichler. This blog examines how advances in technology are drawing us closer to a time when genomic information becomes a routine part of every patient’s healthcare.

“Count Me In” (CMI) is a unique project that gives patients an opportunity to share their cancer-related data directly with scientists. According to Corrie Painter, associate director of CMI, this is a largely untapped but vital part of data science. Here she describes the project and what it could mean for future research efforts.