 |
|
 |
|
indivuNET
Information and Service Portal for Cancer Research |
|
| Indivumed |
|
Indivumed GmbH, the Center for Cancer Research at the Israelitisches
Krankenhaus Hamburg, was founded at the beginning of 2002.
In cooperation with renowned international institutes, this company is
dedicated to opening up new paths in the diagnostics and treatment of colon tumors.
It is the mutual goal of researchers and doctors to create an optimized environment
for the development of new diagnosis and treatment modalities in the fight against
cancer. This is to be achieved by closely linking clinical research and applied
molecular basic science.
One of the central issues is: „To what extent can the effect of certain chemotherapeutic
drugs be predicted by establishing a correlation between tissue protein patterns
and multiple variables such as lab test results, drug intake, tissue collection procedures?“
|
|
| Individualized Medical Cancer Therapy |
|
|
With today‘s new biotechnological methods it is possible to obtain far more
than 100,000 single data by analyzing a tissue sample. In combination with
clinical data like the course of disease, medication, type and size of tumor,
there are good chances to use molecular analysis as basis for individualized
therapies in the future. This would allow the doctors to rule out numerous
treatments right from the beginning and to systematically point out
appropriate alternatives. Furthermore, a molecular analysis of the
complex interaction between anamnesis, medication, and symptoms could
provide new findings supporting the development of innovative individualized
molecular therapies. Such methods would substantially increase the patients‘
chance of being cured.
Interfaced to an analysis system the “IndivuNET” portal will compile all the relevant
data, analyzes it and will make it accessible to Indivumed’s customers and partners for
further individual processing.
|
|
| A Database as System Core |
|
From the technical point of view, it was a challenging task to design
such an extremely powerful, highly reliable database with multimedia
features for managing and providing the information for almost any
target system. Indivumed particularly focused on efficient features
to manage the complex data structures, on a flexible and comfortable
interface concept to enable global data retrieval, and on communication
with other biological databases. In either case, XML is playing a central
role as format for processing and export tasks. The data stored in an Oracle
database is processed by the Java-based XML framework Cocoon, and special
transformers convert the data into any requested format. A
database interface to the system for gene expression ensures
access to the original raw data and analysis data.
|
|
| IndivuNET in Action
|
|
Due to a browser-based user interface the system is completely Internet-operated.
This way, the hospitals connected to the system collect their basic data and clinical
data of patients, such as
- age, gender, living habits, and weight
- data on the course of the disease
- type and form of medication (IndivuNET determines the potency of all active ingredients based on the data of drugs administered)
- results of operation
- documentation of tissue sampling (with digital illustration material) and subsequent tissue sample storage
- reports on tissue quality control and sampling procedures
At the touch of a button, standard queries provide compressed, classified views of number and type of existing tissue samples, structured by various categories like:
- male, up to 45 years old, smoker, BMI over 26
- female, up to 40 years old, asthmatic
In addition, a configurable query generator will enable users to process individual selections, such as:
“Which of the drugs the patient has taken regularly or was given during anaesthetics influence the analysis data?”
Such flexible selection algorithms will allow all Indivumed customers to retrieve
system-stored information suiting their individual criteria. If matches are
found, they will get the data records in an appropriate data format and can
even order the associated tissue samples.
There are integrated LIMS functions (Laboratory Information Management System)
for controlling inventory and storage locations, for monitoring the storage facilities,
and documenting any relevant procedures and events. Beyond this, IndivuNET precisely
logs all system and user activities.
|
|
| Safety and Privacy |
|
|
All data is collected in strictly pseudonymous form, i.e. an
abstract, unique identification is used to distinguish the
individual data records without the possibility to draw
conclusions on the real patient. Only the hospital attending
the patient is still able to trace back this relation.
|
|
| Target Groups |
|
Only customers and partners of Indivumed can access the services and resources
provided by IndivuNET. Any communication with the outside world is encrypted
and protected by multiple safety mechanisms; there is no direct access into
the IndivuNET system.
Typical system users are
- hospitals affiliated to the research association
- pharmaceutical industry doing research
- biotechnological companies as well as
- academic research institutions
|
|
| Project Stages |
|
In April 2003, after six months of planning and developing, Indivumed and
Werum completed the first project phase: IndivuNET went into productive mode.
Further steps, like extending the user interface or integrating analysis and
information systems, are already being planned.
The team from left to right:
Dr. Heinz Joachim List, Vice President of Business Development Indivumed
Bernd Fechner, Werum Software & Systems
Werner Hannöver, Werum Software & Systems
Dr. Kerstin David, Vice President of Research Indivumed
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Juhl, CEO Indivumed
|
|
| Direct Link to Indivumed
|
|
www.indivumed.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
;)
;)
;)