The Laboratory for Pathology Dynamics was recently awarded a 2-year National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI) R21 grant entitled, “A Big Data Approach to BCR ABL Leukemias”. Dr. Mitchell is the PI of this research project, which will utilize a plethora of existing and novel big data analytics techniques, from computational modeling to text mining to machine learning, to improve personalized medicine for BCR ABL leukemias. While the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has vastly improved life span for BCR ABL cancer patients, such chemotherapy is currently recommended to be taken for life, as even patients who reach remission have >60% chance of relapse if they stop treatment. With such long-term treatment, therapy resistance is an issue. There are a variety of TKIs, all of which have their own unique acute or chronic side effect profiles, which also influence safety and compliance. The goal of this work is to uncover complex patterns that improve understanding of the etiology and treatment of BCR ABL cancers and lead to predictive medicine algorithms that can personalize treatment and improve TKI selection, long-term outcomes, and overall quality of life. The lab will collaborate with oncologists specializing in pediatric and adult hematological malignancies.
