Pune, December 10, 2010

The second Meet on Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG™) organized by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) concluded at Pune today. Several eminent scientists from National Cancer Institute, USA, University of Chicago, USA, Indiana University School of Medicine, USA, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, Tata Consultancy Services, New Delhi, Biomantra, New Delhi along with scientists from C-DAC participated and shared their research with their counterparts during the two-day meet.

Expressing his happiness at the success of the event, Dr George Komatsoulis, Dy Director, Centre for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA said that he was extremely excited about the proceedings of the two-day meet. I see a lot of potential for collaboration between the USA and India in the field of medical information technology. There are several encouraging signs that have emerged out of this meet and we would like take this forward towards scientific collaborations to aid our initiative against Cancer.

"We are indeed looking forward to partnering with our colleagues in India, who share our vision towards Cancer research. Even the smallest prospect holds great promise and we are all ready to take the next step together. Our goal is to create an eco-system that will catalyze the free flow of information, which will eventually enable researchers to devise and develop more effective treatments for cancer. We are enthused by the interest generated in this meet and are hopeful that this collaboration will take us towards President Obama's desire to find a cure for Cancer in our lifetime", added Dr. Anil Srivastava, International Outreach Coordinator, Centre for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA.

Delivering the valedictory address, Dr Pradeep K Sinha, Sr Director-HPC, C-DAC, Pune commented on "how difficult and complex it is to deal with Cancer research. A wide range of experts from different fields will be required to eradicate this deadly affliction. We will need to go to the root of the cause, and this is around which our infrastructure should be built. Alternative medicine systems like Ayurveda, Homeopathy have a rich medical tradition and have been in existence much before today’s medical science and tools. There is a need to investigate and relook at how our traditional medical systems can be brought on to a newer platform. We should also be working on various types of software, tools, technologies that will aid in this fight. The meet has provided us with a very good platform, where we as individuals as well as at an organizational level can contribute. While C-DAC may be front-ending this initiative, it cannot traverse the journey all by itself and the whole nation has to come together to take this forward. It is imperative that we prove to the world that this collaborative model can address the problem of Cancer, and thereby many other international problems."

Summing up the two-day meet, Dr Hemant Darbari, Executive Director, C-DAC, Pune, echoed the sentiments of his CBIIT-NCI counterpart, and said, “ Cancer is, and will remain a common enemy. The victims of this dreaded disease are citizens of this earth, and therefore this menace must be tackled on a global scale. Research must have a multi-pronged approach to be able to even come close to a viable solution. The concept of closed-door research has no meaning within the larger ramifications of its cancerous reach. Knowledge must be collated, consolidated and shared within the community, for accelerating research and to reach a better understanding of its control factors. The C-DAC – caBIG™ alliance is probably the first step in India on this scale, and we need to mobilize our resources so that the right tools and technologies can be made available to the research community. We have only set the ball rolling and are counting on both the global and Indian research community to augment this initiative with their contributions.

The cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid™ (caBIG™) is an information network enabling all constituencies in the cancer community. It is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA, and its activities are supervised by the National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB).