Cancer Data Science Pulse

Precision Medicine
Nikhil Wagle, M.D. and Corrie Painter, Ph.D. standing against a round table at the National Institues of Health, facing the camera, both smiling.

“Count Me In” Gives Patients a Voice in Scientific Discovery

“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.

Illustrated drawing of a large group of diverse people. Headline: BIG DATA Meets Social Determinants of Health-thumbnail-MDT.png

How Can Big Data Help to Address Health Disparities?

Dr. Tony Kerlavage, director of NCI’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), sat down to discuss one key component of racial inequality, the issue of health disparities, as it relates to Big Data. As noted by Dr. Kerlavage, representing our diverse U.S. population in research and in the workforce are key, but we also need better data.

Lee Cooper, Ph.D.

The Promise and the Challenge of Deep Learning in Pathology

One of the most exciting developments of the past decade has been the success of methods broadly described as deep learning. While the roots of deep learning date back to early machine learning research of the 1950s, recent improvements in specialized computing hardware and the availability of labeled data have led to significant advances and have shattered performance benchmarks in tasks like image classification and language processing.

Using CANDLE deep learning to extract protein folding intermediate states.

CANDLE: Scaling JDACS4C Machine Learning Algorithms to Unprecedented Magnitudes

This is the second of a series of posts that discuss the principles underlying the three-year collaborative program “Joint Design of Advanced Computing Solutions for Cancer (JDACS4C).”

Graphic depicton of JDACS4C Pilots and CANDLE

Joint Design of Advanced Computing Solutions for Cancer (JDACS4C): The Right Collaboration at the Right Time to Accelerate Cancer Research

This is the first of a series of posts that discuss the pilot collaborative program “Joint Design of Advanced Computing Solutions for Cancer (JDACS4C)” being pursued by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Department of Energy (DOE).

Graphic outlining the Process of Disease: Risk Assessment of Genetics, Lifestyle, and Environment to Diagnosis of the Individual/Patient to Treatment Options (Disease Stratification) to Outcome and Quality of Life for the Individual/Patient.

Precision Medicine Meets Imprecise Medicine

Biomedical research is evolving with an increasing emphasis on data science, e.g., data integration and storage, data privacy and security, data analytics and data representation, driven by the transformative technologies that have become the currency of genomics in precision medicine. In spite of numerous "beachhead" successes, however, the gap between data and clinical utility continues to grow.

Decorative image of cartoon-style drawings of buildings with a cloud above them, rays of light coming from the cloud towards the buildings.

Democratizing Access to CCG Data: Cancer Genomics Cloud Pilots

In recent years, genomics has been described as a big data science on par with the likes of Twitter, YouTube, and the scientific pursuit of understanding the universe.

Graphic of Breast Imaging by Conventional PET displaying primary and axillary nodes.

Imaging: A Key Component of a Cancer Data Ecosystem

Precision medicine has quickly moved to the forefront of clinical research and practice, and is particularly pertinent to cancer since cancer is a disease of the genome. The need to accelerate discovery in cancer research has been further propelled by the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, challenging the community to make a decade's worth of progress in five years.

Venn diagram with three overlapping circles. Circle 1: Predictive Modeling & Simulation (Molecular Dynamics, Computational Chemistry). Circle 2: Analysis, Search & Compare (Data Science, Analytics). Circle 3: Data Transformation & Management (Genomics, Image Processing).

Precision Medicine Inspires HPC

The recent weeks have been momentous as the high-performance computing (HPC) community embraced the challenge of precision medicine. The theme of this year's leading international supercomputing conference, SC16, was "HPC Matters" and it was evident that HPC matters to precision medicine and that precision medicine matters to the high-performance computing community.

Infographic explaining how BD-STEP program trainees assist in providing meaningful translation of data to patients to improve health outcomes and care delivery.

Collaborating Against Cancer: Inter-Agency Pilots

"We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will save lives, benefit all of humanity. But we have to work together." Vice President Joe Biden's words at the American Association for Cancer Research conference resonate as a clear call to action. When we collaborate and share our expertise, the cancer informatics community can bring a formidable wealth of knowledge and crucial skills to drive and facilitate cancer research.

SUBSCRIBE TO UPDATES

Categories

Archive