ISB News

Event: Cancer Think Tank

Cure First is hosting the forum “Cancer Think Tank.” Speakers include ISB’s Dr. Ilya Shmulevich and Dr. Brady Bernard. Date: January 21, 2016 Time: 1-5:30 p.m. MED talks, breakout sessions, and panel discussion; 6-8 p.m. networking with wine and dinner Why: To jump start innovative collaborations in cancer research with the goal to submit proposals for funding to accelerate the discovery of new, less toxic and targeted therapies. Who: This…

A Mixture of Markers from Two Distinct Cell Types Indicates Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer

3 Bullets: Identifying the most aggressive cells in cancer (cancer stem cells) is essential for designing effective therapy and predicting patient outcomes. Using single-cell analysis techniques, researchers at ISB and Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine have identified the molecular signatures of two types of malignant breast tissue cells. Researchers found an interesting twist: the two cell types “cooperate” to increase malignancy potential and they promote a third hybrid stem-cell type….

John Chevillet is a postdoc in the Hood Lab at Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle.

ISB Innovations: Ultrasound-Based Tumor Biopsies

Name: John Chevillet, PhD Lab: Hood Research: I am trying to develop an ultrasound-based method to take a sample from a tumor, thus replacing needle biopsies. An ultrasound-based method would minimize complications, better diagnose cancers, and direct the use of targeted therapies for personalized medicine. Wish List: If I had $10,000, I could analyze the blood specimens we currently have for cancer dna to demonstrate what this method can tell…

ISB Gets $1.7M to Study Cancer Drug Resistance

Congratulations to the Sui Huang Lab at ISB which has received a five-year $1.7 million R01 award from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute for General Medical Sciences to study cancer sub-population dynamics to understand and develop drugs to inhibit lethal cancer-drug resistance. The project proposal states that the work will: “develop a quantitative and formal framework for describing the temporal evolution of cell phenotype distribution in a…

ISB Recieves $6.5M NIH Contract to Create Cancer Genomics Cloud with Google and SRA International (Image credit: MIT Tech Review)

Cancer Genomics Cloud: ISB and Google Featured in MIT Tech Review

(Above illustration from MIT Technology Review.) MIT Technology Review published an article about the launch of Google Genomics and included a mention of ISB’s new Cancer Genomics Cloud project. ISB received an up-to $6.5 million, two-year NIH contract in collaboration with Google and SRA International. From the MIT Technology Review article: The idea is to create “cancer genome clouds” where scientists can share information and quickly run virtual experiments as…

New Details on Thyroid Cancer May Lead to More Precise Therapies

3 Bullets: Papillary thyroid cancer represents 80 percent of all thyroid cancer cases. Integrative analysis resulted in the detection of significant molecular alterations not previously reported in the disease. ISB researchers identified microRNAs which may lead to more precise therapy. By Lisa Iype Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer, accounting for 80 percent of all cases. As part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)…

Cancer genomics visualization at ISB

It’s Easier to Go ‘Viral’ When Your Partner Happens to be Google

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:…

ISB Awarded $6.5 Million NIH Contract to Develop ‘Cancer Genomics Cloud’ with Google and SRA International

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…

ISB Researchers Help Identify Four New Subtypes of Gastric Cancer That May Lead to New Targeted Treatments

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…

ISB and Seattle BioMed held its annual Lightning Talks on June 12, 2014. The talks offer scientists the chance to share current research and to enable potential collaborations across institutes.

3-Minute Science: ISB and Seattle BioMed Hold Annual Lightning Talks

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…

ISB's Ilya Shmulevich describes his lab's work in The Cancer Genome Atlas project and how ISB and FHCRC could collaborate.

Melding ISB and FHCRC Brain Power for Cancer Research

(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….

It's National Cancer Research Month. Please visit aacr.org to learn more. Or please support Institute for Systems Biology directly at https://www.isbscience.org/support.

It’s National Cancer Research Month: How To Help

May has been designated "National Cancer Research Month" and we'd like to share a little about how ISB is using the systems biology approach to tackle some of the complexities of researching cancers. You can read our four-part series on how ISB's pioneering systems biology has made an impact and continues to clear new pathways for the cancer research field. Please visit aacr.org to learn more about NCRM. Support ISB's…

Data Visualization from Largest Genetics Catalog of Deadliest Brain Tumor

In Cancer Research, It’s HOW That Matters

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…

Cancer Detection requires a cross-disciplinary, systems biology approach.

Cancer Detection: A Systems Biology Approach

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…

Cancer stratification: Using a systems approach to figure out cancer subtypes.

Cancer Stratification: A Systems Approach

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…

Results of the steady-state Markov model. The state transition and ‘self-renewal’ probabilities required to reach the steady state, shown as heat map

Cancer Treatment: A Systems Approach

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…

Speakers Dr. Joe Gray, of Knight Cancer Institute of Oregon Health & Science University, and Dr. Carla Grandori, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, answer questions during a panel discussion.

ISB Systems Biology Symposium Speaker Videos Now Available

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 hosted its annual Symposium on April 13-14, 2014.

ISB’s Annual Symposium

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.