ISB News

Shmulevich-Thorsson

ISB Researchers Among Recipients of AACR Team Science Award

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has recognized The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project with the 2020 AACR Team Science Awards. Award recipients include Dr. Ilya Shmulevich, ISB professor and head of the Shmulevich Lab; ISB senior research scientist Dr. Vésteinn Þórsson; and former Shmulevich Lab members Drs. Brady Bernard and Theo Knijnenburg.

ISB’s Computational Teams Play Central Role in Completion of TCGA’s PanCancer Atlas Initiative

ISB’s computational and bioinformatics teams played a central role in the completion of the PanCancer Atlas Initiative, the final phase of TCGA. The culmination of this work is being published in 27 papers this week across the Cell Press research journals, including “The Immune Landscape of Cancer” in Immunity.

CRI iAtlas

CRI, ISB, Sage Bionetworks Unveil Comprehensive Immunotherapy Tool

Three organizations on the forefront of cancer immunotherapy, systems biology and bioinformatics announced the release of the Cancer Research Institute iAtlas, a comprehensive web-based tool that allows oncologists and researchers to study and analyze interactions between tumors and the immune microenvironment.

TCGA, ISB Researchers Identify Potential Drug Targets for Leading Form of Deadly Liver Cancer

June 19, 2017 Researchers in ISB’s Shmulevich Lab and their colleagues in The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network performed the first large-scale, multi-platform analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma, the predominant form of liver cancer. Study was published on June 15, 2017, in the journal Cell. 3 Bullets: Liver cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. ISB researchers and colleagues from The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network…

William Poole, 2013 undergrad intern

Former Undergrad Intern Publishes Algorithm in PLOS Computational Biology

Posted March 1, 2017 In a study published in PLoS Computational Biology, researchers at Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) have developed a multiscale mutation clustering algorithm (M2C) that identifies variable length regions with high mutation density in cancer genes. The M2C algorithm was developed by William Poole (first author on the paper), who started as a summer intern in 2013 as part of ISB’s Center for Systems Biology internship program….

Sanger Institute’s COSMIC database expands cancer cloud capabilities at the Institute for Systems Biology

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute released this news on Feb. 20, 2017. See original release… FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute’s Catalog of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) team announces a new agreement to provide their data to the U.S.-based Institute for Systems Biology (ISB). COSMIC is an expert-curated cancer mutation database, and is the world’s largest and most comprehensive resource for exploring the impact of somatic mutations…

Comprehensive study of esophageal cancer reveals several molecular subtypes, provides new insight into increasingly prevalent disease

The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network recommends clinical trials organizers and drug manufacturers focus on newly discovered molecular subtypes GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Jan. 4, 2017 –– A comprehensive analysis of 559 esophageal and gastric cancer samples, collected from patients around the world, suggests the two main types of esophageal cancer differ markedly in their molecular characteristics and should be considered separate diseases. The study, published today in Nature from The…

ISB-CGC banner image

ISB Gets $3.4M NIH Extension for Cancer Genomics Cloud

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ISB Receives $3.4 Million Extension to NIH Contract to Continue Development of ‘Cancer Genomics Cloud’ with Google and CSRA SEATTLE, Oct. 21, 2016 – Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) has received a $3.4 million, one-year extension to an existing federally-funded contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). This follows the completion of the initial two-year, $6.5 million contract during which ISB developed…

Vice President Biden Gives Cancer Moonshot Update

This week, Vice President Biden delivered an extensive update on the progress of the Cancer Moonshot initiative. ISB was mentioned in relation to the Cancer Genomics Cloud project. Learn more about ISB CGC at isb-cgc.org. Excerpt from the official White House press release: Official White House press release Full Cancer Moonshot Report Puget Sound Business Journal article

New Baliga Lab Publication in Cell Systems

The Baliga Lab’s Dr. Christopher Plaisier was the lead author of the study “Causal Mechanistic Regulatory Network for Glioblastoma Deciphered Using Systems Genetics Network Analysis” which published online in Cell Systems on July 14. Dr. Plaisier wrote a summary of the research: 3 Bullets: Using data from TCGA and ENCODE, ISB researchers developed integrative database and analysis platforms that provide insight about the underpinnings of glioblastoma multiforme. Researchers developed a…

A Landscape of Pharmacogenomic Interactions in Cancer

The journal Cell published a study today (July 7) about the integrated analysis of drug response in 1,001 cancer cell lines. This study was undertaken by a large international group of researchers including ISB Senior Research Scientist Theo Knijnenburg. The researchers integrated heterogeneous molecular data of 11,215 tumors and 1,001 cell lines in order to study the drug response of these cell lines to 265 anti-cancer drugs. They uncovered numerous…

New Publication in ‘Cancer Cell’

As part of The Cancer Genome Atlas project, the Shmuelvich Lab and colleagues published a paper in the journal Cancer Cell related to the rare cancer adrenocortical carcinoma. Read the summary: 3 Bullets: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, under-researched endocrine cancer with limited therapeutic options and overall poor outcome. TCGA researchers performed comprehensive analysis of 91 ACC samples to gain better understanding of potential genetic causes of the cancer….

ISB Researcher Featured in Bio-IT World

Congrats to Sheila Reynolds (Shmulevich Lab) on being featured on the Bio-IT World Conference site for her presentation on ISB’s Cancer Genomics Cloud project. Read the Q&A here. Excerpt below: Cancer Genome Analysis at the Institute for Systems Biology Q1: How did your background in signal processing and machine learning lead you to work in cancer genome analysis at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington? After working in…

Ilya Shmulevich at GCPNext

Using Google Cloud Platform to Give Researchers Easier Access to Cancer Data

ISB’s Dr. Ilya Shmulevich attended Google Cloud Platform’s GCPNext conference in San Francisco and presented on ISB’s Cancer Genomics Cloud project. He explains how his team used GCP to create better access for a broad range of researchers to cancer genomics data (from The Cancer Genomics Atlas) and the tools with which to explore that data. Watch Dr. Shmulevich’s talk below.

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…

How Physics and Thermodynamics Help Assess DNA Defects in Cancer

3 Bullets: ‘Big data’ cancer research has revealed a new spectrum of genetic mutations across tumors that need understanding. Existing methods for analyzing DNA defects in cancer are blind to how those mutations actually behave. ISB scientists developed a new approach using physics- and structure-based modeling to systematically assess the spectrum of mutations that arise in several gene regulatory proteins in cancer. By Jake Valenzuela and Justin Ashworth A significant…

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:…