It was a typical Wednesday afternoon at the BC Cancer Agency’s Genome Research Centre on 7th Avenue, Vancouver BC. Activities outside the building seemed like that of any other Vancouver residential neighbourhood. Nobody would have known that some cutting edge, world class research on cancer is happening at the corner of the street. Inside, one might have expected to find the laboratory filled with biologists and chemists all goggled, masked up clad in white biochemical suits working away on blood samples.
But this wasn’t quite the scene when Pam and I visited Dr. Steven Jones, Head of Bioinformatics at the research centre. Instead, the ground floor was littered with data analysts staring into their computer screens coding away. The atmosphere compelled me to feel like I was in Google or Facebook instead. No, Pam and I weren’t there because we have cancer (hopefully not in our respective lifetimes); neither were we taking the afternoon off from work. In case any of you are wondering why Pam and I would be there on a Wednesday afternoon instead of being hard at work in the office, we were there to be educated on this niche segment of Biotechnology. Our clients would know that part of our portfolio is exposed to this field – particularly cancer treatment and hence it was our responsibility to do some due diligence.
In the laboratory, robots and machines were the ones hard at work, performing the role many had expected humans to be doing. The scientists have long gone home to their families, leaving their electronic counterparts to complete their assigned tasks through the night. When the humans finally report back into the lab the following morning, the analyses of thousands of DNA samples would have been completed timely and accurately – perhaps more so than if humans were to execute the same task.
Dedication to Data
On another floor of the agency, there were, again, no humans in sight. The entire area was sprawled with servers and switches stacked side by side, tower after tower. These servers are capable of storing and processing thousands of petabytes of data (FYI, 1 petabyte = 1,024 Gigabytes). From our understanding, each of the 1,068 cancer patients that is undergoing treatment at the Genome Sciences Centre’s Personalized Onco-Genomics Program (POG) requires gigabytes of storage space – an amount probably equivalent to the hard disc space of 4 or more iPhones. At a cancer research lab in 2019, keeping patient data clean is equally, if not more, important than keeping physical blood and DNA samples clean. Thus, it wasn't surprising to hear that the IT systems represent more than 50% of all expenses!
Thanks to the existence of Big Data and Machine Learning, the research team is able to analyze patient data from single cancer cells and compare the patient data against millions of other patient data provided by other hospitals, research centres and universities around the globe. The use of such technology has enabled the team to map the spread of the disease and target the treatment more specifically. The use of a relatively new form of treatment called immunotherapy, where proteins cling onto the tumor and hence allows the body’s immune system to detect and fight it, has been gaining traction and when complimented with data analysis, is on track to greatly improve survivorship of cancer patients. This has been particularly successful in lung and skin cancer, where gene mutations seem to occur most prevalently.
Breaking Away from Tradition
Traditionally, when patients are first diagnosed with cancer, they are immediately sent to the lab for a series of blood tests. Regardless of the diagnosis, the treatment options are either to undergo an intense medication regime, radiotherapy, surgery and/or a combination of the 3 – very much a generic “spray and pray” approach. Thankfully for many, this has enjoyed much success. There are, however, some which the approach considers outliers do not enjoy as much success in the fight to conquer cancer.
This is what Dr. Jones and his team hope to change. The agency strives to understand the patient’s genome structure first, the root cause of the gene mutation and thereafter, personalize the therapy for each of the 1,068 patients that walk through the doors of the Personalized Onco-genomics Program. The wealth of data in the agency’s servers make all of this possible.
A Final Attempt
Currently, to be admitted in the program, patients would usually have to be in an advanced stage of the disease. It would be medically unethical to deny patients of other forms of therapy that have been proven to be effective first, said Dr. Jones. In short, the patients in the program have been admitted because most other conventional forms of cancer treatment options have been rendered ineffective. The POG is, essentially, a last-ditch attempt to mount a comeback against the cancer cells in their bodies.
The cost of this program is currently funded by federal research programs, the BC Cancer Agency, Genome Canada and collaborations with certain specific healthcare companies. Donations are very much welcome and will certainly go a long way to beat the disease. Based on the level of interest, we may schedule an event for clients to learn more about oncology, immunology and at the same time, lower their tax bill by donating to the various cancer organizations.
We Have Come a Long Way
The human race has come a long way in the fight to beat cancer. Testicular cancer, for one, used to be a death sentence for men in the 1960’s. Today, the mortality rate of testicular cancer is miniscule, mentioned Dr. Jones. Other strains of cancer are moving in the same direction. Nobody would have imagined that one of the world’s leading facilities to stop cancer in its tracks is happening right here in our backyard, in an unsuspecting building surrounded by Whole Foods, Canadian Tire and London Drugs. The lab has recently partnered with Roche Holdings, a Swiss-based pharmaceutical and Diagnostics company. Roche has been in our investment portfolio for a while now; their lead in developing products for cell analysis, gene expression and genome sequencing makes this company an attractive long-term investment. The collaboration with Roche has injected meaningful funding to sustain research and treatment operations at the lab while Roche gets access to the wealth of data that the lab holds in its servers. This partnership generates synergy between the 2 organizations who have the same mission: Conquer cancer. And they are – one byte at a time.