Innovators in Pediatric Cancer to Share Progress on Ground-Breaking Personalized Medicine Clinical Trial

• Dell to host NMTRC Symposium 2012, annual meeting of biomedical researchers, pediatric oncologists, parents and advocates

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dell:

WHAT
The team of parents, genetic and translational medicine scientists and pediatric oncologists trailblazing personalized medicine in the treatment of deadly pediatric cancers is convening in Austin to discuss the status of the world’s first personalized medicine clinical trial for pediatric cancer and plan next steps at the NMTRC Symposium 2012. Neuroblastoma affects 1 in 100,000 children and is responsible for 1 in 7 pediatric cancer deaths.

WHO
Parents, advocates, oncologists from the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC) and biomedical researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), who are using high performance computing and cloud technology from Dell to identify targeted treatments based on the specific genetic vulnerabilities of each child’s tumor—an approach that could be used to treat all pediatric and adult cancers in the future.

WHY
Personalized medicine—treatment based on the specific vulnerabilities of each tumor— is overcoming longstanding barriers to treatment of pediatric cancer. There has been only one new treatment for pediatric cancer approved by the FDA since the 1980s, compared to 50 treatments approved for adult cancer in this same timeframe. As a result, pediatric oncologists use treatments designed for adults to treat children, with toxic side effects that are frequently as physically detrimental to the child as the cancer itself.

WHEN
The following events will be available via live-stream:
May 16
1-2 pm CT: Keynote: “Molecular-Profiling for Optimized Precision Therapy,” Dr. Timothy Triche, University of Southern California/ Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

2-4 pm CT: Panel Discussion: “Kids Cloud: Access to Data Boundaries”
Dr. Melinda Merchant - National Cancer Institute
Dr. Gary Marchant - Arizona State University
Nancy Goodman - Kids V. Cancer Foundation
Patrick Lacey - Friends of Will Foundation
Andy Mikulak - Max’s Ring of Fire Foundation
Dr. Giselle Sholler - Van Andel Institute
Dr. Spyro Mousses - Translational Genomics Research Institute
Dr. James Coffin - Dell

WHERE
Participate and join the conversation via the #HealthCloud hashtag on Twitter.
Tune in via Live-Stream here: http://www.fittotweet.com/live/nmtrc/.