Sources: Ikerbasque and Biophysics Unit
José Vilar Wins International Scientific Competition on Leukaemia Diagnosis
José Vilar, Ikerbasque researcher at the Biophysics Unit (CSIC-UPV/EHU) emerged as the winner of a major international competition in the framework of DREAM6 project (http://www.the-dream-project.org). The competition was about using computational methods to diagnose acute myeloid leukaemia using molecular data obtained using a cell analysis technique known as flow cytometry.
José Vilar obtained his Physics PhD at the University of Barcelona. He has worked at the Biophysics Unit, which is a centre jointly affiliated to the CSIC and the UPV/EHU (University of the Basque Country) since 2008, carrying out computational studies on cell processes, having directed a computational biology group at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Previously, he earned his post-doctorate in biophysics at Princeton and Rockefeller Universities.
The DREAM (Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods) project was born 6 years ago from a collaboration between major international entities such as Columbia University, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the IBM Computational Biology Centre, and the New York Academy of Sciences. It aims to catalyse the interaction between experimental and theoretical areas in the fields of interference in cell networks and the creation of quantitative models in biological systems.
The DREAM project organises an annual conference and, among other activities, reveals the winners of the competitions implemented in the preceding months. These competitions are scientific endurance tests that aim to advance techniques that enable more efficient action in treating various illnesses. The organisers set a scientific unknown, and provide incomplete information that researchers must complete using their scientific abilities. The researcher that manages to come up with the closest solution to the unknown wins.
"In computational biology, this is known as practising the algorithm," stated Dr. Vilar. "This means that you have a method that allows you to make predictions, and they give you the data to test it. You adapt the method in accordance with the data received and then using the adjusted algorithm, you have to predict data that you don't know."One of the four competitions in this edition corresponded to the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Around 20 research teams from across the globe participated in this competition. The organisation published this year's results on October 14, during the RECOMB/DREAM international conference (http://recomb-dream2011.org), that was held in Barcelona. The method for diagnosing acute myeloid leukaemia using flow cytometry data that Dr. Vilar developed achieved the best result, ahead of such prestigious institutions as the MD Anderson Cancer Center (Texas University), which is classified as the best cancer hospital in the United States.