097-AP-98 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National Cancer Institute awards funds to UC Irvine to establish two cancer genetics informatics centers
Irvine, Calif., July 24, 1998 - The National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced today that the University of California, Irvine has been chosen to develop and manage two of the most comprehensive human cancer genetics research databases ever undertaken.
The Internet-based "informatics" systems will contain data on hundreds of thousands of people who are genetically predisposed to cancer, as well as data on tissue samples, educational materials and other resources designed to increase the world's understanding of the genetic basis of cancer.
In an announcement at UCI, NCI officials said that one of the informatics centers will serve as the nucleus to support virtually all functions of the institute's new Cancer Genetics Network, which will consist of up to eight major research centers to be established soon at leading research institutions across the nation. Capitalizing on recent advances in human genetics research, the Cancer Genetics Network will support a broad range of basic and clinical research in an aggressive quest to find genetic susceptibility factors for cancer and new prevention strategies for the disease.
The other informatics center will support the institute's existing international consortium of 12 research centers that are exploring causes of and cures for breast and colon cancer. The research centers are located in Canada, Australia and throughout the United States. Through this informatics center, UCI will provide a wide range of services to the consortium known as the Cooperative Family Registries for Breast and Colon Cancer Studies. Specifically, UCI will manage patient databases and provide the individual centers support in designing future cancer genetic epidemiology studies and technology training.
The grants to UCI for the two informatics centers total $6 million.
"It is an honor for UC Irvine to be chosen by NCI to develop and operate these informatics centers," said UCI Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone. "This reflects the university's position as a leader in cancer research and ensures that UCI will continue to make advances in cancer research."
"We are excited to be at the forefront of what promises to be a new era in cancer research," said Thomas Cesario, dean of the UCI College of Medicine. "UCI's leadership role in cancer genetics informatics will complement cancer research at our Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and at our expanding Irvine Biomedical Research Center."
The creation of the Cancer Genetics Network represents a major long-term research focus for the NCI, which is seeking to take advantage of emerging technology and recent discoveries that allow scientists to explore, more vigorously than ever before, the key role gene mutation plays in human cancer susceptibility.
Dr. Hoda Anton-Culver, chief of UCI's Epidemiology Division in the College of Medicine, is the director of both informatics centers.
The two cancer genetics informatics centers will make possible an unprecedented collaboration among leading clinicians, basic scientists, epidemiologists, genetic counselors and community medical organizations, Anton-Culver said.
Dr. Robert A. Hiatt, deputy director of NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, said: "The National Cancer Institute expects the collaborative effort to identify genes that predispose people to cancer, integrate what is learned into community medical practice, and to address public health issues related to cancer genetics. The Cancer Genetics Network also will give participating researchers access to a breadth of research data and protocols, human tissue samples and other resources that would be beyond the scope of a single institution."
The research and clinical trials that will be conducted at the NCI-funded Cancer Genetics Network research centers will produce a vast amount of data and information that will need to be organized, maintained, updated and disseminated among all the centers and the medical community at large. This formidable task will fall to the informatics center at UCI. Anton-Culver said the informatics center will be Internet-based, allowing the research centers-as well as community physicians, other health care professionals and patients-to quickly access general information about cancer genetics. Access to patient information, however, will be tightly restricted to ensure confidentiality and security, she said.
"We're on the cusp of an exciting new era in cancer genetics research, and I'm thrilled that, through the informatics centers, UCI will play a key role in communicating with the public and the health care community about the latest findings in cancer research," Anton-Culver said. "The Cancer Genetics Network represents an exciting new strategy by the National Cancer Institute. By integrating basic research, clinical research, genetic counseling and education at both the academic and community levels, the network will help ensure a coherent approach to understanding and fighting cancer."
UCI brings to the national network several key strengths in basic and clinical cancer research and education and medical informatics, according to Anton-Culver. Among them: strong existing research programs in human cancer genetics research that include a comprehensive biospecimen bank and a genetics informatics system, a consortium of nationally recognized research laboratories that will pool their talents to create a comprehensive approach to detecting cancer susceptibility, and a history of working with community medical organizations to integrate new information into treatment and counseling services for patients.
Under Anton-Culver's guidance, the Epidemiology Division in the College of Medicine has been recognized both statewide and nationally for its work in helping scientists, physicians and clinicians promote the prevention and control of cancer through its pioneering Cancer Surveillance Program. Established in 1983, the program tracks and reports to the state all cancer cases throughout Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties. The program also identifies high-risk groups, provides information to community cancer-education programs, evaluates the effectiveness of cancer diagnosis and treatment and hosts a Cancer Research Journal Club for health care practitioners to discuss new cancer research and treatment.
The creation of the NCI Cancer Genetics Network comes at a time of unprecedented scientific discoveries and reports of promising new drugs designed to attack cancer at the genetic level. The network will take advantage of and expand upon those discoveries, Anton-Culver said, ultimately bringing new hope to those who are predisposed to or battling cancer.
Through its comprehensive approach to cancer research and treatment, both at the College of Medicine and the UCI Medical Center, UCI has emerged as a national leader in the fight against cancer. As just one example of the breadth and strength of the university's research and patient care programs, the NCI last year awarded its most prestigious honor-the designation of "comprehensive cancer center"-to the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Contact:Andrew Porterfield
(949) 824-3969
[email protected]
A complete archive of press releases is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.communications.uci.edu/~inform/
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