The purpose of Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers For Oncology (epbc) is to develop and promote effective, individualized cancer treatments.
The epbc project has three objectives:
1. To develop a novel, high-throughput epigenetic biomarker platform for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment stratification of cancer patients.
2. To provide researchers with access to data generated by the epbc project as well as other systems biology resources.
3. To educate students about the latest developments in systems biology and bioinformatics through workshops and tutorials on state-of-the-art technologies in cancer research.
The Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers for Oncology (epbc) are a set of international, multi-institutional groups that are working to identify and validate epigenetic biomarkers for cancer. The epbc will be working together to provide a unique resource for researchers and clinicians to identify new ways to diagnose and treat cancer.
Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers for Oncology (EPBC)
In an effort to address the challenge, the NCI has established the EPBC, a national network of academic research centers and clinical centers (Epigenomic Roadmap Network Project) that will generate comprehensive epigenomic data sets on large numbers of primary clinical samples. These data sets will be used to discover epigenetic biomarkers and develop new strategies for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The overall goal of the EPBC is to discover and implement biomarkers that improve cancer treatment by enabling clinicians to identify more precisely which patients will benefit from which therapy. The centers will provide a framework for integrating multiple biological, computational and technological approaches to enable researchers to develop approaches that directly impact individualized cancer care. The centers are expected to help speed the development of new personalized treatments for patients with cancer by identifying patient-specific markers in different types of cancer and developing tailored therapies through the use of those markers.
The potential applications include treatment selection, early detection, prognosis prediction and improved understanding of disease mechanisms. In addition, these initiatives could impact many areas of medicine by developing methods for discovering biomarkers in other diseases.
The EPBCs are expected to leverage existing resources at each institution
Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers For Oncology
Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers, or epbc, is a consortium of academic and commercial researchers that aim to develop novel epigenetic biomarkers for use in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Our Mission
To establish the ‘epbc’ (Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers) as an international network of academic and commercial researchers working together to develop novel epigenetic biomarkers for use in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
What We Do
We are a small group of academic and commercial researchers who are developing new epigenetic markers for the detection and treatment of cancer. These markers will be used to identify patients who have an increased risk of developing cancer, or who have already developed cancer but do not yet know about it.
Our focus is on developing novel biomarkers that can be used in early detection programs as well as those which may eventually replace traditional screening methods such as mammograms. We have been working with leading medical research institutions around the world since 2016, when we first started looking at how we might improve upon existing methods for detecting breast cancer tumors.
Why epbc?
The main reason behind our efforts is that there are currently no effective ways to detect breast cancers that do not
The Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers for Oncology (EPBC) is a new program developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to better understand cancer and identify new therapies. EPBC centers will focus on epigenetic biomarker discovery, validation, and differentiating between normal, benign, precancerous and malignant cells.
This program will advance the knowledge of epigenetics in cancer development, progression and clinical outcome. Epigenetics refers to stable changes in gene expression that occur without changing the underlying DNA sequence. This includes DNA methylation or histone modifications that can suppress or silence genes.
The NCI believes that advances in epigenetic research may lead to the development of new cancer treatments and methods for identifying people at increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.
The Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Center for Oncology at the University of Colorado was established with a generous gift from Stephen Hilbert and the Conseco Foundation. The primary goal of this center is to provide cancer patients access to the newest advances in epigenetic biomarker discovery and therapeutics, while simultaneously training the next generation of researchers in this exciting field.
The Center will focus on developing novel approaches to discover epigenetic markers in cancer. Our current projects include 1) comprehensive analysis of DNA methylation patterns to identify novel potential biomarkers for cancers including breast, lung, prostate, melanoma, osteosarcoma and pancreatic cancer; 2) analysis of the role of histone modification and microRNAs in regulating gene expression in ovarian and other cancers; 3) development of new technologies for high throughput DNA methylation analysis; 4) development of novel epigenetic therapies for cancer.
In addition to basic research, we will provide our expertise to assist investigators in validating their biomarkers for clinical applications. We also plan to develop high-throughput methods for epigenetic testing which can be applied towards personalized medicine.
The National Cancer Institute has established five Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery Centers for Oncology (EpiBCs), each of which will explore the molecular mechanisms by which epigenetic alterations contribute to cancer.
The EpiBC Consortium aims to:
1. Accelerate the discovery of novel epigenetic biomarkers in cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.
2. Generate rigorous validation data for promising biomarkers.
3. Develop a centralized clearinghouse for collecting, storing, evaluating and sharing sample sets with robust clinical data and annotated epigenetic profiles to support biomarker discovery and validation efforts by interested researchers.
