Educational Session: “Emerging Data Sets and Data Integration Initiatives” at Paws for a Cure Research Symposium

Dr. Amy LeBlanc, director of NCI’s Comparative Oncology Program (COP) and Integrated Canine Data Commons (ICDC) team member, will join other panel members at the 2^nd Annual Paws for a Cure Research Symposium to discuss “Canine Genetic Biomarker Data in the Context of Human.”

Dr. LeBlanc will give an overview of canine genetic and biomarker data from NCI’s perspective and cover emerging key canine data sets available for oncology research.

Dogs can develop many of the same types of cancer as humans, and cancer treatments that are safe and effective for dogs often work well for people. NCI’s COP sponsors clinical trials for pets (primarily cats and dogs) to give animals access to cutting-edge research and therapeutics and help biologists better understand the biology of cancer. The ICDC is the latest repository in NCI’s Cancer Research Data Commons, a cloud-based infrastructure with repositories that feature genomics, proteomics, and now canine data. By collecting data on dogs with spontaneously arising cancer, researchers can compare with and learn more about human tumor pathways, how a type of cancer metastasizes, and what treatments may be effective for both canine and human cancer patients.