Found in Translation
Continued
Choosing Oracle
WRI and InforSense selected Oracle Database 10g as the engine that is powering their next-generation solution for several reasons. First, WRI has to seamlessly integrate data from diverse sources, including research institutes, hospitals, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare providers—all with disparate IT systems.
Just as important, WRI and InforSense needed a solution that helped ensure the security of medical data. By enabling in-database analytics, Oracle Database 10g minimizes movement of data in and out of the database, significantly reducing security risks. "For security and compliance reasons, that was a key issue for WRI," says Sheldon.
ROI for the Research Center
As biomedical information grows exponentially more complex, translational research is testing the limits of IT solutions. Sheldon believes enterprise software that incorporates IT best practices with research institute best practices will become a must. "Instead of writing custom Perl scripts to get the analysis you want, which can take hundreds of days of coding for a single study, you can install the latest software and get the same capability in as little as a couple of weeks," says Sheldon. And unlike custom scripts, enterprise software is reusable. "Use the software to analyze a study on, say, lymphoma; then simply drop in a different disease area and the workflow would run on that data and return relevant results," he adds.
With the help of InforSense informatics technologies and Oracle Database, WRI has built an IT backbone for a new kind of physician/patient decision support system. Now WRI, a nonprofit, is starting a for-profit venture to assist other medical centers in doing the same. It has already begun commercial ventures in the U.S. and the Netherlands.
"Translational research is a very hot area," says Sheldon. "Everybody's talking about it, but there is very little out there that really does accomplish it. WRI and InforSense have designed the system with clinicians' needs in mind," he emphasizes. "That's really why the collaboration between InforSense and WRI has been such a success, and why other medical centers are taking notice."
"InforSense workflow technology using Oracle Database enables us to build solutions that are flexible enough to support the dynamic and iterative thought processes of our scientists and our clinicians," says Liebman. "Combined with the ability to then deploy these findings throughout our research teams, this technology enables our scientists to translate their research into real decisions that can impact patient care. We see this solution as the 'command-and-control center' for our clinicians to give patients the best possible answers and the best possible care."
Moving Forward
For More Information
Oracle for Life Sciences
Oracle Database 10g
Jeff Erickson is a senior technology editor for Oracle Publishing.
