State-funded Research Reaches an International Audience
California Breast Cancer Research Program Joins International Cancer Research Partners
Oakland, CA-June 7, 2004-The California Breast Cancer Research Program has joined the International Cancer Research Partners (ICRP) to create a comprehensive cancer research database that allows public access to the research supported by eight funding organizations in the US and UK. The partners are dedicated to making current and ongoing cancer research information widely available and to promoting international collaboration.
Anyone interested in cancer research will find the ICRP database to be a useful tool. Researchers may browse the database for research ideas or to find a collaborative partner; policy makers may use the database as a research tool during the formulation of new health care and service delivery policies; health care professionals, patients, survivors, and advocates may review the current status of funded research; funding organizations may use the database to set priorities for future research funding efforts and improve coordination with other research organizations.
The ICRP participants developed a framework for sharing information about current and ongoing cancer research, classified their active research portfolios using the shared criteria (the Common Scientific Outline), and made the resulting database available for public use. Research is organized around seven broad areas of scientific cancer research interest, then further subdivided into 38 subcategories. The ICRP database is flexible, allowing searches under a variety of criteria, such as type of cancer, area of research, and funding organization. An advanced search feature is available, allowing for refined, narrowly-targeted searches.
The ICRP Web site (www.cancerportfolio.org) currently includes research abstracts from more than 14,000 active research projects and nearly 19,000 total awards from four of the partners: the UK National Cancer Research Institute, the National Cancer Institute (US), the US Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, and the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP). Data from the other four partners (American Cancer Society, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Oncology Nursing Society Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) will be added as it is made available.
