ONS Connect - May 2008 - (Page 22)

NEWTREATMENTS,NEWHOPE Giant Database Allows Scientists to Share Information [By Deborah McBride, RN, MSN, CPON ®, Contributing Editor] esearchers at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and Rutgers University are collaborating with IBM on a project that might unleash the power of supercomputer technology in the fight against cancer. In an effort to improve cancer care, researchers are creating a giant digital database designed to allow oncologists and scientists to share vital information. The new computer system will allow physicians and researchers worldwide to access the latest developments in cancer research and treatment, specifically more than 100,000 cancer tissue microarrays (TMAs), which will allow new samples to be simultaneously compared and multiple experiments to be conducted on the samples in shorter periods of time. The supercomputer system will allow researchers to test slivers of many biopsied tissues at one time, analyzing 22 ONS CONNECT R in one day the number of specimens that would take approximately 130 years to complete using a traditional computer. Previously, TMAs were processed in individual or small batches on standard computers. Although TMAs are not currently being used by doctors to render primary diagnoses, researchers can use the database to determine the specific type and state of cancer present in a TMA and systematically investigate which therapies or combination of treatments are most likely to be effective for each kind of cancer. Specific courses of treatment can then be prescribed for actual patients based on whether a specific biomarker is present. Researchers believe that the system’s speed and sophistication could make it possible to detect and track subtle changes in measurable parameters that could facilitate the discovery of progno- sis clues, which are not apparent using traditional analysis alone. Much of the difficulty in making consistent evaluation of patterns in TMAs arises from the subjective impressions of the observers. Computer-aided analysis improves objectivity, reproducibility, and sensitivity. The researchers have already created a robotic prototype that uses imageprocessing and pattern-recognition programs to automatically image, analyze, archive, and share expression patterns in TMAs. The collaborative system is part of CINJ’s Help Defeat Cancer project, which was launched in July 2006 to develop software for improving cancer detection in tissue samples. The initial phase of the project created a large database that allows doctors to compare various treatments for patients with breast, colon, or head and neck cancers. Researchers hope to expand the current system to include information about other forms of cancer, although no timetable has been set. Through the National Institutes of Health’s Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid program (also known as caBIG), the research institutions plan to share the technology with other U.S. cancer research facilities. ✱ Greenemeier, L. (2008). Tapping into the cancerfighter collective for treatment. Scientific American. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from http:// www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cancer-soft ware-technology Contributing Editor Deborah McBride, RN, MSN, CPON ®, is a nurse at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center and a faculty member at Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, CA. MAY 2008 http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cancer-software-technology http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cancer-software-technology

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ONS Connect - May 2008 Contents Editor's Note Just In ONS Leadership Development Institute A Year in the Life - Month Five Web Content Capitol Connection Notice Nursing Now Caregiver Care Put Evidence Into Practice to Prevent and Manage Constipation in Patients With Cancer Giant Database Allows Scientists to Share Information Calendar of Events Working for You Staying on Top

ONS Connect - May 2008

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