NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Massachusetts-based biosimulation company Gene Network Sciences announced today that it has entered into a research collaboration with the University of Connecticut Health Center's Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Under the agreement, researchers at GNS and the cancer center plan to integrate genetic, genomic, and clinical data into computer models representing different types of cancer using GNS technology. GNS' supercomputing-based REFS platform is already used in other pharmaceutical and clinical settings to bring together data for predicting disease progression and drug response.
Those involved initially plan to focus this approach on ovarian cancer, though they are also discussing the possibility of applying the REFS platform to other types of cancer, including prostate cancer.
Results generated through ovarian cancer simulations will be assessed and validated by researchers at the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. The collaborators plan to explore other strategic partnerships in order to develop drugs and diagnostic tools stemming from their findings.
Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Carolyn Runowicz and GNS Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Tom Neyarapally initiated the collaboration. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Runowicz, Neyarapally, and their colleagues are reportedly in the process of putting together a scientific publication describing the application of computer modeling for improving ovarian cancer treatments and outcomes. The team is also planning to establish an ovarian cancer consortium involving other, yet-unidentified cancer centers.