The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has chosen the Epidemiology Division of UC Irvine’s College of Medicine to manage two Internet-based informatics systems. The first is for an existing NCI network of twelve international institutions studying genetic and other causes of breast and colon cancer, and the second will link eight major research centers nationally (including UCI) in NCI’s newly created Cancer Genetics Network. Both informatics systems will take advantage of emerging technologies and recent discoveries that are allowing scientists to explore, more than ever before, the key role gene mutations play in human cancer susceptibility.
In early May, the Epidemiology Division moved the Cancer Genetics Network and Informatics Centers to one of the new buildings on Theory Drive in the University Research Park (URP). The Informatics Centers are the first campus programs to utilize high-speed fiber-optic communication links from URP to the campus network backbone, orchestrated in large part through NACS. NACS will also be instrumental in planning networking and security needs for the Informatics Center.
The UCI Informatics Centers will develop one of the most comprehensive human cancer genetics research databases ever undertaken. The system will contain data on hundreds of thousands of people who are genetically predisposed to cancer, as well as information on biological specimens, educational materials and other resources designed to increase the world’s understanding of the genetic basis of cancer.
The Principal Investigators on these research projects are Hoda Anton-Culver, Ph.D., Robert Moyzis, Ph.D., Alberto Manetta, M.D., F. Allan Hubbell, M.D., and Argyrios Ziogas, Ph.D., among many others.