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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / AUGUST 18, 2003; VOL. 2 NO. 33
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Applications:
RESEARCH CENTER DISCOVERS GENETIC
LINKS WITH IBM TECHNOLOGY
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced that its researchers are
using IBM technology to help discover why some people are more susceptible
than others to infectious and autoimmune diseases, such as leukemia and AIDS.
The research also seeks answers to medical mysteries such as why vaccines
protect some individuals better than others and why some close donor-recipient
transplants fail.
Through an IBM Shared University Research (SUR) Award that includes
computer
hardware, software and research expertise, Fred Hutchinson and IBM are
developing a new information system to support research on the human immune
system. The new Molecular and Clinical Integrated Platform is designed to
facilitate collaboration among Fred Hutchinson scientists and provide faster
and more efficient access to information that could lead to scientific
discovery.
"Right now, we spend too much time planning and positioning to overcome
obstacles to managing increasingly complex data," said John Hansen, head of
Fred Hutchinson's Immunogenetics Program. "A coordinated data-sharing system
would be a much more productive and efficient way for research colleagues to
interact. If, through our collaboration with IBM, we can make this approach
work, it will provide opportunities and impetus for new collaborations."
At the core of the Fred Hutchinson system is IBM DiscoveryLink* data
integration technology, designed to help researchers integrate and share data
from a variety of sources, formats and file types. Using DiscoveryLink,
researchers can consolidate information from many sources into a 'virtual
database' to help solve complex medical research problems.
Fred Hutchinson's information technology infrastructure also includes an
IBM
eServer* pSeries* server running the Linux** operating system, for processing
DNA sequence data. This system will complement advanced DNA-sequencing
equipment at Fred Hutchinson, which is used to study genes that determine a
person's unique tissue type.
"Today, each researcher has to copy thousands of bits of sequences and
other
complex information onto a CD-ROM and walk from one office or lab to another
before information critical to their collaborative studies can be shared,"
said Fred Hutchinson researcher Dr. Dan Geraghty. "Each of our laboratories
uses different software platforms for managing data, and we organize our
databases differently. The new system will help us eliminate these research
silos and share information and compare research results with other
collaborators around the country."
The project's initial phase has been completed and researchers from five
different Fred Hutchinson laboratories are using the system. In the future,
the system could be expanded to include a broad network of users, such as
doctors' offices and research laboratories around the world.
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