Accelerating Cancer Research Using Semantics-Driven Technology

The aim of this project is to increase the rate of progress in clinical cancer research by accelerating the development, running, and re-analysis of translational early-phase studies through the provision of semantics-driven software solutions. It will take an approach that has proven effective for randomised controlled trials, where therapies are tested on large populations, and apply it to the earlier stages of research and development, where the effect of therapies upon humans are first explored, and significant discoveries are made. It will build upon the work of the UK CancerGrid project, which has developed techniques for the provision of software systems in which data is associated with a detailed, computable representation of its semantics, and that association is used to drive subsequent processing – analysis, integration, and re-use. It will employ Microsoft technologies ideally positioned for the implementation of these techniques: in particular, SharePoint and Silverlight.  It will complement workflow and community-building technologies under development at Microsoft, as part of a platform for leading-edge, collaborative science.