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NIH Launches Comprehensive Effort to Explore Cancer Genomics: The
Cancer Genome Atlas Begins With Three-Year, $100 Million Pilot

Cancer Treatment
http://www.imhcaz.com/

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome
Research Institute (NHGRI), both part of the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), today launched a comprehensive effort to accelerate
our understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the
application of genome analysis technologies, especially large-scale
genome sequencing. The overall effort, called The Cancer Genome
Atlas (TCGA), will begin with a pilot project to determine the
feasibility of a full-scale effort to systematically explore the
universe of genomic changes involved in all types of human cancer.

"Now is the time to move forward with this pioneering initiative.
Thanks to the tools and technologies developed by the Human Genome
Project and recent advances in using genetic information to improve
cancer diagnosis and treatment, it is now possible to envision a
systematic effort to map the changes in the human genetic blueprint
associated with all known forms of cancer," said NIH Director Elias
A. Zerhouni, M.D. "This atlas of genomic changes will provide new
insights into the biological basis of cancer, which in turn will
lead to new tests to detect cancer in its early, most treatable
stages; new therapies to target cancer at its most vulnerable
points; and, ultimately, new strategies to prevent cancer."

NCI and NHGRI announced today at a news conference in Washington,
D.C., that they have each committed $50 million over three years to
the TCGA Pilot Project. The project will develop and test the
complex science and technology framework needed to systematically
identify and characterize the genetic mutations and other genomic
changes associated with cancer. The pilot will involve a few types
of cancer that will be chosen for their value in helping to
determine the feasibility of a possible larger-scale project. The
process for determining the types of cancers to be studied is
currently underway.

Cancer is now understood to include more than 200 different
diseases. In all forms of cancer, genomic changes -- often specific
to a particular type or stage of cancer -- cause disruptions within
cellular pathways that result in uncontrolled cell growth. TCGA will
delve more deeply into the genetic origins leading to this complex
set of diseases, and, in doing so, will create new discoveries and
tools that will provide the basis for a new generation of cancer
therapies, diagnostics, and preventive strategies.

"The goal of studying the human genome has always been to improve
human health. The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project represents
another bold step in that direction," said National Human Genome
Research Institute Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "Such an
ambitious venture requires significant planning. Given the genetic
complexity of cancer, we are certain to face many daunting
challenges in this pilot. But by pulling together some of the best
minds in the cancer and genomics research communities, I am
confident that the pilot will succeed, and we will go on to develop
an atlas that will accelerate cancer research in ways we cannot even
imagine today."

NCI Deputy Director Anna D. Barker, Ph.D., said, "The Cancer Genome
Atlas Pilot Project is a revolutionary step in cancer medicine that
leverages advances in cancer biology, genomics technologies,
biorepositories, and bioinformatics for the ultimate benefit of
cancer patients. Key challenges for the TCGA Pilot Project include
not only addressing cancer's complexity, but also developing the
technologies to advance the science of cancer genetics. A better
understanding of cancer genetics is part of the overall effort to
eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer."

Data and technologies produced by other genomic projects have
provided the tools necessary to produce new insights into how and
why genetic changes cause cancer. The Human Genome Project, an
international effort led in the United States by NHGRI and the
Department of Energy, was completed in April 2003 and provided a
reference DNA sequence of the human genome. The Human Genome Project
also helped to advance sequencing technologies and paved the way for
other genome-based research tools, including a comprehensive map of
human genetic variation, or haplotypes, recently produced by the
International HapMap Consortium.

Genetic mutations linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, melanoma,
and other cancers already have led to diagnostic tests that can
point to the most effective intervention. Recent discoveries in
cancer genomics have helped to identify several treatments that work
by targeting cancer cells with a specific genetic change, such as
Gleevec®, a drug for chronic myeloid leukemia and gastrointestinal
stromal tumors, and Herceptin®, a drug for one form of breast
cancer. These successful developments support further examination of
the molecular origins of cancer to more quickly develop new tools to
diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer.

In the TCGA Pilot Project, a Human Cancer Biospecimen Core Resource
will support the collection, processing, and distribution of
cancerous and healthy, control tissue samples to Cancer Genome
Characterization Centers and Genome Sequencing Centers. The genes
and other genomic targets identified will be sequenced by the Cancer
Genome Sequencing Centers using high-throughput methods similar to
those employed in the Human Genome Project. The Cancer Genome Atlas
Pilot Project seeks to identify genetic mutations in the DNA code
that are specifically associated with the type of cancer being
sequenced. In addition, the Cancer Genome Characterization Centers
will work to identify other types of larger-scale genomic changes,
such as copy number changes and/or chromosomal translocations, that
contribute to cancer development and/or progression.

These data from TCGA Centers will be deposited in public databases
supported by NCI's cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG™) and
the National Library of Medicine's National Center for Biotechnology
Information. As in the Human Genome Project, TCGA data will be made
available to the worldwide research community. This data will
provide researchers and clinicians with an early glimpse of what is
hoped will evolve into an unprecedented, comprehensive "atlas" of
information describing the genomes of all cancers. This atlas will
enable researchers throughout the world to analyze and use the data
in their own research to develop new diagnostics and therapies for
different cancers.

Recognizing that not all technologies needed for high-throughput,
cost-effective analysis of the cancer genome are already in hand,
TCGA also will support new technology development. Some of these
methods will focus on improving current genomic analysis
technologies, while others will emphasize new approaches, such as
epigenomics. Epigenomics looks at how various small molecules, such
as methyl groups, when added or removed from DNA, can have profound
effects on gene function.

Each component of the TCGA Pilot Project will have clear milestones
and goals. Only if the pilot achieves its goals will the full-scale
project to develop a complete atlas of the cancer genome move
forward.

The Cancer Genome Characterization Centers, Genome Sequencing
Centers, and Biospecimen Core Resources will be selected in 2006.
Applications and proposals will be reviewed by experts in the field,
and awards will be based on merit and programmatic needs of The
Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project.

####

NCI and NHGRI are two of the 27 institutes and centers at NIH, an
agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more details about The Cancer Genome Atlas, including Q&As, a
graphic, a glossary, a brief guide to genomics, and a media library
of available images, please go to http://cancergenome.nih.gov.

For more information about cancer and the National Cancer Institute,
please visit the NCI Web site at http://www.cancer.gov, or call
NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

Additional information about NHGRI can be found at its Web site,
http://www.genome.gov.

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