EndocrinologyTIBCO Spotfire Supports Top Scientists At German Cancer Research Center, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum
Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, are using the enterprise analytics platform from TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) for scientific research. This research includes looking at the mechanisms behind the causes of cancer, development of custom-tailored drugs, and understanding the types of cancer caused by infections.
Dr. Mark Demesmaeker, European manager of Solution Consulting at TIBCO Spotfire, says, "The Institute"s use of the platform highlights the breadth of applications and power of the TIBCO Spotfire® enterprise analytics solution."
High-throughput RNAi Screening
The project group, headed by research professor Dr. Michael Boutros, analyzes cancer-relevant signal pathways in cells through high-throughput RNAi Screening. The group aims to systematically find new genes that play a role in the development of cancer. The researchers individually "switch off" genes through RNAi and analyze the effect the disconnection has on the cells. The high-throughput screenings through different cell-based assays and automated microscopy result in large amounts of data that has to be statistically analyzed. TIBCO Spotfire analytics supports the detailed presentation of large data sets that originate from this process and allows scientists to accelerate the research process with powerful and interactive visualizations.
Infectious agents and cancer
A team led by Dr. Michael Pawlita examines the influence of infections on the development of cancer. They continue the research work initiated by Professor Harald zur Hausen, the long-time DKFZ chairman. Zur Hausen proved that Human Papillomavirus (HPV) plays a crucial role in the development of cervical cancer -- a discovery that earned him the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2008 -- and his research led to the development of the first vaccine against cancer. Researchers have suspected that other forms of cancer might also be triggered through other infections. In order to identify these pathogenic agents and develop suitable vaccines, the team searches for corresponding antibodies and evaluates large amounts of information from blood samples. With TIBCO Spotfire, prominent patterns can be identified more easily while the number of necessary analyses can be substantially reduced.
Screening of substance libraries for new drugs
Researchers in the Chemical Biology Core Facility, a facility jointly used by the DKFZ, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-EMBL (Europäisches Laboratorium fĂřr Molekularbiologie) and Heidelberg University, employ TIBCO Spotfire. The service unit headed by Dr. Joe Lewis supports researchers from all three institutions in the screening of small molecules.
Small molecules can serve as molecular tools for fighting biologically important target molecules. Analyzing their structure and effects can result in the development of new and custom-tailored drugs. The work at the facility includes the development of assays for medium-throughput screening, the screening of substance libraries consisting of up to 50,000 connections, and support in the characterization of connections. The researchers at the Core Facility appreciate the flexibility of TIBCO Spotfire in processing data and offer the platform for use by specific project teams. The visual interactive analytics platform allows scientists to spot and track outliers at a glance and to understand the information in context. By analyzing large amounts of data, TIBCO Spotfire allows researchers a high degree of automation while also providing the ability to ask and answer questions, interpret the results and provide highly focused interpretations.
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