Health
World cancer genome project begun
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 19, 2008
Research organizations from around the world are launching the International Cancer Genome Consortium, a collaboration designed to generate high-quality genomic data on up to 50 types of cancer. The effort is expected to take a decade.
The consortium intends to make its data rapidly and freely available to the global research community, and it invites all nations and research organizations to participate. The National Institutes of Health is the U.S. research organization participating in the project.
Once thought of as a single disease, cancer is now understood to consist of a large number of different conditions. In almost all forms, however, cancer changes the genetic blueprint, or genomes, of cells and causes disruptions within normal biological pathways, leading to uncontrolled cell growth.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/19/hlbf0519.htm.
