The data, when paired with AI, could lead to novel insights in tumor biology, treatment resistance, and identification of new therapeutic targets. — Four national cancer research organizations, including Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center, will work together to use artificial intelligence (AI) to battle cancer.
The other organizations that are part of the Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA) are:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins
The efforts will be spearheaded by Fred Hutch.
The alliance will serve as a collaboration center to better understand how AI can be used in their industry.
The cancer centers will share infrastructure, shape industry standards, and solve problems together to create better health outcomes.
The group has secured $40 million in funding from tech giants such as Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, Microsoft, Slalom and NVIDIA.
“We are at a breakthrough moment for finding cancer cures thanks to rapid advancement in AI,” said Juan Lavista Ferres, Corporate Vice President & Chief Data Scientist, Microsoft.
“With leading AI capabilities, diverse data types and standards, and modern cloud infrastructure in place, thoughtful collaboration across leading cancer research centers can help accelerate progress.”
Currently, cancer researchers face two challenges to using AI modeling:
1. Accessing the computational resources to analyze large volumes of data quickly
2. Remaining compliant with the privacy requirements that come with sharing data
CAIA will serve an enabling role, providing the computing infrastructure to members of the alliance to process high volumes of cancer data generated during routine cancer care, such as electronic health records, pathology images, medical images and genome sequencing.
This data, when paired with AI, could lead to novel insights in tumor biology, treatment resistance, and identification of new therapeutic targets.
The alliance’s aspirational goal is to support cancer innovation with $1 billion in resources over time.
CAIA is expected to be operating by the end of 2024 and producing its first insights by the end of 2025.