

The GDC, a platform aimed at allowing unprecedented access to cancer research Data, launched June 6th as part of Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
Vice President Joe Biden visited and toured the GDC operations center at the University of Chicago on June 6th in preparation for the public launch of the Genomic Data Commons. The GDC is a platform aimed at allowing researchers unprecedented access to cancer research data for analysis and sharing. It is part of Biden’s work with the National Institute for Cancer Research’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative, which is working to accelerate cancer research while making therapies and early detection more readily available.
The GDC principal researcher is our founder, Bob Grossman, who is also the Director of University of Chicago’s Center for Data Intensive Science. Bob has worked to help centralize data from previous National Cancer Institute programs into one data set under GDC. The GDC data set, which is over 4 PetaBytes in size, includes clinical and genomic information from thousands of patients and is continuing to grow as more patient information is catalogued. The integration of clinical and genomic data allows for researchers to view items such as cancer screening and imaging, information on the molecular profiles of tumors, and treatment response in one location. All of this will create a direct line for analysis of cancer research, detection, and treatment response and eventually enable better treatment and detection for patients.
Open Data Group is excited to offer a congratulations to our founder and chief data scientist Robert Grossman for his ongoing dedication and work to help create a comprehensive network of knowledge for the prevention and treatment of cancer!