The war on lung cancer requires many allies and bioinformatics expert Jake Y. Chen has joined their ranks. Bioinformatics is his tactical approach – and his weapons of choice are data-mining techniques.

Chen, assistant professor at the IU School of Informatics in Indianapolis , recently was awarded a $174,000 grant to conduct research for the project, Predictive Lung Cancer Systems Biology. The two-year grant comes from the IU Cancer Center-based Lung Cancer Working Group.

Chen's focus will be to collect proteomics profiles of patients, analyze lung cancer relevant proteins and apply data-mining techniques – the process of automatically searching large volumes of data – to predict which chemotherapy provides the most benefits to an individual patient.

Proteomics is the study of proteins' structures and functions, including the way they work and interact with each other inside cells. Indiana University is well regarded for its proteomics research at the School of Medicine in Indianapolis and at its Bloomington campus.

“The overall project aims to improve the survivability of lung cancer patients after the surgical removal of tumors,” Chen says. He is joined by co-investigator Steve Valentine, a researcher at the Predictive Physiology & Medicine Inc., Bloomington .

Chen and Valentine will work closely with researchers and clinicians at the IU Cancer Center. Science directors of the project are cancer clinicians/researchers Larry Einhorn, IU Distinguished Professor and professor of medicine; and Nasser Hanna, assistant professor of medicine.

Einhorn is a recognized authority on the treatment of lung cancer, but perhaps is best known for his work in testicular cancer. In 1974, he and IU urologist John Donohue developed a chemotherapy regimen and surgical technique for testicular cancer patients that now boasts a 95 percent cure rate. Einhorn was the principal physician who successfully treated Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong for testicular cancer.

“This collaborative research is an example, if successful, how to translate basic research into clinical application to patients,” said Chen. “I am excited that the prospect of this research will have the direct impact of saving lives.”

Chen's involvement with the LCWG following in the wake of his being named a co-investigator of a significant Indiana University and Purdue University cancer research initiative fueled by a $7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. Chen will lead of team of informatics specialists from IU Bloomington and biostatistics experts at the IU School of Medicine participating in the project. For more information, go to http://informatics.iupui.edu/news/story.php?id=473.

Indeed, cancer has many battlefields. And Jake Chen is among the IU soldiers on the frontlines.