--Innovative information system facilitates personalized medicine--
WASHINGTON, D.C. June 29, 2005 - The Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and
Genomics (HPCGG) was awarded the 2005 Best Practices Award for Infrastructure:
IT Hardware & Systems Software by Bio-IT World for its unique informatics system. The system enables a wide
variety of genetic/genomic research and also supports the rapid transformation of research findings into clinical
tests usable by physicians. The system thereby facilitates the adoption of personalized medicine, which takes
advantage of molecular analysis to better manage a patient's disease or predisposition to disease.
The award is presented annually for "the most outstanding efforts in bio-IT-enabled research and development of
therapeutics and diagnostics." The winner was chosen by a panel comprised of members of the Bio-IT World editorial
staff and external judges.
"Genomic and proteomic research moves at an extremely rapid pace," said Dr. Raju Kucherlapati, Scientific Director
of the HPCGG. "But to make a difference for patients, research findings must to be brought to the bedside in a
manner that physicians can leverage. Reducing the time it takes for discoveries to transition from the research
to the clinical setting is critically important for patients."
The new informatics system, called GIGPAD (Gateway for Integrated Genomics-Proteomics Application and Data), has
already shown its utility by rapidly providing IT support for a new test for determining which patients will
respond to new lung cancer treatments that are highly effective for about 10% of patients.
Dr. Kucherlapati continued, "We have demonstrated an ability to reduce diagnostic test development and validation
from years to months. This puts enormous pressure on IT to keep up the pace. GIGPAD allows us to establish
clinical IT support quickly and leverage all of the associated benefits in efficiency, quality and accuracy."
"GIGPAD was built to support personalized medicine, which relies on a rapid research-to-clinic transition," said
Mr. Samuel Aronson, HPCGG Director of Information Technology. Normally, the IT requirements for researchers and
clinicians are completely different. When you discover something in the lab, getting it to the clinic requires a
dramatic change in IT infrastructure. Because GIGPAD was designed from the ground up to meet the regulatory,
user interface and transaction management requirements of both the clinical and research worlds, we can rapidly
respond to breakthroughs as they occur.
The GIGPAD system was developed by team of information technology, scientific, clinical, and administrative
specialists spanning the HPCGG, Partners Healthcare Information Systems and business partner Hewlett Packard.
About GIGPAD
GIGPAD is a secure clinical and research information management system. It is capable of processing, storing and
sharing research results from individual or multiple laboratories, and can be seamlessly integrated with established
laboratory information management systems (LIMS). GIGPAD addresses a common obstacle in creating research-to-clinic
information systems by eliminating the need for separate code requirements for researchers and clinicians to use
the database. GIGPAD is currently used in support of sequencing, microarray analysis, genotyping, mass spectrometry,
biosample banking and 3-D imaging technologies.
About Bio-IT World, Inc.
A business unit of IDG, Bio-IT World, Inc., publishes information across a variety of media to meet the needs of
bio-IT, life science, healthcare, pharmaceutical and regulatory professionals. The company's award-winning
publication, Bio-IT World, and accompanying website, www.bio-itworld.com, deliver the latest news, analysis and
information on the application of technology products and services to enable the life sciences R&D value chain -
spanning basic research, drug discovery and development, clinical trials, and regulatory compliance. Established in
September 2001, Bio-IT World, Inc. is headquartered in Framingham, Mass.
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