About OIA

NCI's caBIG^® Initiative Continues to Expand Across Borders

Dr. Kenneth Buetow, CBIIT Director and leader of the caBIG® initiative.

The cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG^®) initiative, managed by the NCI's Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), is an open-source informatics infrastructure aimed at promoting research and discovery in the areas of cancer detection, diagnosis, treatment, therapeutics, and prevention – bringing the potential of personalized medicine closer to realization.

Since its inception, caBIG^® has played a critical role in improving and streamlining the ways in which researchers collect, manage, and analyze large volumes of biomedical and clinical data. To these ends, caBIG^® features a portfolio of over 40 open-development bioinformatic tools that facilitate research collaboration and the secure sharing of data among cancer researchers, clinicians, physicians, and patients. In addition to cancer research and care, caBIG^® technology also is widely applicable to other therapeutic areas.

Dr. Kenneth Buetow, director of CBIIT and leader of the caBIG^® initiative, has spearheaded significant expansion of caBIG^® over the past year. Fifty NCI-designated Cancer Centers and members of the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) are now linked to one another via caGrid, the underlying software infrastructure that supports caBIG^®. This has resulted in the world's largest dedicated biomedical research grid, which includes more than 120 active grid nodes.

caBIG^® has also continued to expand globally, maintaining longstanding collaborative relationships and forging new partnerships. The NCI and the U.K. National Cancer Research Initiative (NCRI) have worked together for a number of years to develop complementary tools, leveraging the best applications and technologies developed by each organization. For example, the NCRI is now adopting caGrid technology for its applications, while the caBIG^® program is planning to utilize the NCRI Oncology Information Exchange (ONIX) portal to provide a Web-accessible entry point to combined NCRI and caBIG^® resources. In addition, caBIG^® tools and infrastructure are being implemented in India, Singapore, China, Jordan, and some countries in Latin America, with a view to actualizing personalized medicine for patients.

caBIG^® continues to successfully connect cancer research communities all over the world, stimulating productive research interactions and improving patient outcomes. For further information on the caBIG^® program, visit http://cabig.cancer.gov/. The caBIG^® 2008 Annual Report may be found at http://cabig.cancer.gov/gettingconnected/caBIGresources/annualreport/.