Gene Network Sciences Announces Broad Cancer Collaboration With UCSF And Initial Results

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 31 May 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Gene Network Sciences, Inc. (GNS) announced that it has entered into a research collaboration with the University of California San Francisco Cancer Center (UCSF) aimed at accelerating cancer research and drug development across several therapeutic areas. This collaboration will combine the clinical and research oncology expertise of UCSF with the computational expertise and supercomputer-driven REFS(TM) platform of GNS. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

GNS and UCSF have utilized REFS(TM) to discover and validate novel mediators of the cell cycle transition, which is a critical determinant of the rate of cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth. These results were presented by UCSF researcher Dr. Rina Gendelman, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. W. Michael Korn's laboratory, at the American Association for Cancer Research 2009 meeting on April 18-22 in Denver, during which Dr. Gendelman received an AACR-Susan G. Komen Scholar-in-Training Award. GNS and prominent UCSF investigators Dr. Joe Gray, Dr. Frank McCormick, and Dr. W. Michael Korn will continue the collaboration through a number of additional projects.

Dr. Korn, who is an Associate Professor at UCSF, will lead the UCSF-GNS research partnership.

The parties will continue with research to elucidate the RAS-MAPK and PI3K cancer pathways, pathways critical for initiation and progression of many cancers, by building models of breast, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer based on data from ongoing research at UCSF using the REFS(TM) platform and simulation of these models. The discoveries from the ongoing research are expected to include potential novel drug targets in those cancer types.

"GNS is excited to be working with UCSF, a world-class research and clinical institution, to tackle key current issues in cancer research," said Dr. Iya Khalil, Executive Vice President and co-founder of GNS. "Our collaborative work with UCSF is one of several examples of GNS's applying our supercomputer-driven REFS(TM) platform to accelerate better treatments for patients with cancer."

Sources
Gene Network Sciences and The University of California

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