By ISBUSA Since we announced that we got a $6.5 million contract from NCI to develop the Cancer Genomics Cloud pilot project, we’ve gotten some great press from around the world. It doesn’t hurt that one of our partners is Google, of course. Here are some of the headlines from around the world: Puget Sound Business Journal: Cancer in the cloud: Institute for Systems Biology teams up with Google NBCNews.com:…
PRESS RELEASE Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) has received a $6.5 million, up to two-year, federally funded contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). ISB is one of three organizations awarded a contract by NCI to develop a cloud-based platform that will serve as a large-scale data repository and provide the computational infrastructure necessary to carry out cancer genomics research at unprecedented scales. ISB’s Shmulevich…
Pictured above: Dr. Qiang Tian, left, and Dr. Edward Lin, right, discuss single-cell analysis technologies developed at Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. September 22, 2014 – ISB has received a $2.3 million NIH grant over four years in response to NCI’s “Provocative Questions” Initiative. The project will apply ISB’s most advanced single-cell omics technologies to an innovative clinical trial for colorectal cancer (ADAPT). Principal investigator Qiang Tian, MD, PhD,…
3 Bullets: Aggressive tumor growth is linked to high activity of a macromolecular assembly called RNA polymerase I. ISB and FHCRC researchers collaborate to map the architecture of the assembly using a powerful crosslinking-mass spectrometry (CXMS) technology. Structural maps provide important insights into therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. By Mark Gillespie Rapidly growing tumor cells require large amounts of protein for their survival. This increased protein synthesis, or translation, can…
3 Bullets: Gastric cancer has a high mortality rate, but current classification systems haven’t been effective in helping to identify subtypes relevant for treatment of the disease. TCGA researchers have integrated molecular data from 295 stomach tumors and have discovered four subtypes of gastric cancer. Stratification of patients into these four subtypes paves the way for the development of new personalized therapies. By Theo Knijnenburg Gastric cancer is among the…
Institute for Systems Biology has a dizzying breadth of research projects. But when we talk about what we do, it’s how we do it that matters most. The systems approach that we pioneered and exemplify continues to distinguish our ability to tackle the most complex biological and environmental challenges today. Because of how we apply our hallmark collaborative, cross-disciplinary and integrative approach, our collective success is greater than the sum…
Photo: Theo Knijnenburg, a research scientist in ISB's Shmulevich Lab, presentaed a summary of his work related to gene mutations and cancer drug sensitivity. Systems biology is about the culture as much as a scientific approach. ISB and Seattle BioMed have an inter-institutional agreement that enables the collective to benefit from shared knowledge and technology resources. For the second consecutive year, we held Lightning Talks (June 12) to allow researchers…
(Photo above: ISB’s Dr. Ilya Shmulevich describes his lab’s work in The Cancer Genome Atlas project and how ISB and FHCRC could collaborate.) Big health challenges require big science. Cancers are prime examples of overwhelmingly complex diseases that need the power of a cross-disciplinary, systems biology approach to decipher the underlying dysfunctional gene networks in order to find ways to prevent and manage the diseases and develop more effective therapies….
By Martin Shelton, Theo Knijnenburg and Joseph Zhou ISB Editorial Board Members The oldest existing record of cancer occurs in a 4000-year-old Egyptian papyrus. It describes, in detail, a woman with symptoms eerily similar to those of modern breast cancer patients. As for the prescribed treatment, there was simply this statement: “No cure.” Sadly, this short and assertive conclusion remains true. According to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics…
By Martin Shelton ISB Editorial Board Member With the exception of cancers of the skin, mouth, and blood, it is difficult to detect cancer by sight or with a routine health screen. The natural variety that exists at the cellular level — even within cells of the same type — challenges our ability to differentiate healthy tissue from diseased. This variety, what biologists call heterogeneity, means that equally healthy cells…
By Theo Knijnenburg ISB Editorial Board Member When a patient receives a diagnosis of breast cancer, it’s a specific subtype of breast cancer, such as invasive ductal carcinoma. Each subtype is characterized by the shape and location of the tumor, its growth progression, prognosis and treatment. The ability to stratify, or group, cancer patients based on the specific characteristics of their cancer type, is the first step toward personalized cancer…
By Sui Huang and Joseph Zhou, ISB Editorial Board Members Cancer cells, for decades regarded as a uniform mass of identical (“clonal”) cells, are not like the soldiers of a traditional army, trained to act and respond in unison. Cancer cells, even within a genetic clone, express enormous individuality akin to guerrilla fighters, each with unique strengths, weaknesses and distinct behaviors. Therefore, they do not respond to an attack from…
ISB held its 13th Annual International Symposium: Systems Biology & Cancers on April 13-14. Please read more about our speakers and program. If you weren't able to attend or would like to refresh your memory of the talks, we have made a selection of the presentations available to view below. Or visit the playlist on ISB's YouTube channel.
ISB held its 13th Annual International Symposium: Systems Biology & Cancers From Big Data to Personalized Treatment on April 13-14, 2014. Visit symposium.isbscience.net for details. Visit the gallery for images. Or visit the video playlist on ISB’s YouTube channel.
