Biomax informatics ag selected as a consortium partner in the newly formed center for personalized c

Biomax Informatics AG announces today that it has been selected as a consortium partner in the OncoTyrol project Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine, an Austrian COMET-program, which supports building up centers that are based on a top-level research program jointly formulated by science and industry. This EUR 28 million initiative focuses on translating genomic, proteomic and metabolomic research into innovative, individualized and cost-effective approaches for cancer diagnosis and treatment. It aims to achieve three primary goals (1) to characterize the paradigm malignancies chronic myeloid and lymphocytic leukemia, breast and prostate cancer at the molecular level (2) to identify, verify and validate biomarkers for prediction of individual cancer risk, treatment response and outcome, and (3) to develop tailored therapies for cancer patients or cohorts that are most likely to benefit. 'This is an important milestone for Biomax and emphasizes our strategic commitment to provide innovative technology platforms to support workflows in personalized and translational medicine,' comments Dr. Klaus Heumann, CEO of Biomax Informatics. 'Translational science paradigms will have an increasing impact on discovery research and development processes in the life sciences industry. Our BioXM(TM) Knowledge Management Environment provides a platform that moves beyond traditional information limits to bridge discovery and clinical research departments,' he adds. 'The collaboration with Biomax Informatics will provide us with access to unique knowledge discovery and management technology and expertise. After an in-depth evaluation we concluded that the BioXM system, with its highly visual approach and outstanding data integration capabilities, is the backbone we need to make the visionary OncoTyrol project successful,' states Prof. Dr. Armin Graber, Head of the Institute for Bioinformatics at the University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), and Area leader for bioinformatics and system biology in the OncoTyrol Initiative. The K1 project for Personalized Cancer Medicine (OncoTyrol) has a project volume of EUR 28 Mio over the next 4 years. The vision of OncoTyrol is to harness the benefits of the molecular revolution in cancer medicine by translating genomic, proteomic and metabolomic research into innovative, individualized and cost-effective approaches for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The consortium of researchers at the Biomedical Campus Innsbruck, which is close to three local universities and the University Hospital Innsbruck, together with national and international academic and industrial partners has joined efforts to develop and feed a pipeline of basic, translational, clinical and decision-analytic cancer research, and consequently establish a European center of excellence in cancer research with strong international visibility and an outstanding reputation. Due to the substantial scientific strengths and clinical expertise in breast and prostate cancer, chronic myeloid and lymphocytic leukemia, these paradigm malignancies were chosen as the primary targets of research. OncoTyrol research is supported by core facilities, which include technology platforms for genomic, epigenomic and proteomic profiling, SNP analysis and flow cytometry, a bioinformatics unit, tissue and serum banks, animal testing facilities and a clinical trial center within a comprehensive cancer center. The University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT) was founded in 2001 by the TILAK (Tiroler Landeskrankenanstalten GmbH) and the Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung. Today, UMIT is owned by the federal state of Tyrol. UMIT has 122 employees and 841 students in the fields of biomedical informatics, health sciences and nursing science. UMIT is also co-owner of the competence centre CEMIT (Centre of Excellence in Medicine and IT) and of the FHG (Centre for Health Professionals; University of Applied Sciences). UMIT is one of twelve accredited private universities in Austria. In addition to the headquarters in Hall in Tyrol, UMIT operates study centres in Linz, Vienna and in Bad Soden/Hessen. About BioXM knowledge management and Viscovery data mining The BioXM(TM) Knowledge Management Environment is a project-centered, distributed software platform that provides a central inventory of information and knowledge. Users create, manage and visualize scientific models as an extendible network of interrelated concepts. The BioXM platform facilitates communication and collaboration across research & development departments and integrates seamlessly into existing IT environments. The Viscovery(R) data mining tool complements the BioXM platform with data mining technology to establish robust molecular classifiers ('Biomarkers').

Published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008

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