Biomarker Sciences Program

Deputy Chair, Biomarker Sciences Program Keith T. Flaherty, MD Harvard University, the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center Biography Email

Program Description

Within its novel Biomarker Sciences Program, the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group evaluates and integrates cross-cutting biologic opportunities, explicitly recognizing the importance of scientific discovery in the development of new cancer therapies. This program provides unprecedented opportunities for the incorporation of novel predictive (integral) and response (integrated) biomarkers into our therapeutic trials. It is anticipated that the development of biomarker-focused, small trials will facilitate more efficient design of definitive trials, requiring fewer patients to demonstrate larger treatment effects and patient selection being based on the presence of biomarkers predictive of clinical response.

The Biomarker Science Program is leading the precision medicine cancer trial, NCI-MATCH / EAY131.

History of ECOG-ACRIN’s Biomarker Science Program

The ECOG-ACRIN Biomarker Sciences Program was established in 2011 to provide the Group with a uniquely coordinated multidisciplinary translational science resource composed of some of the world’s leaders. The program promotes the parallel development of biologically driven therapy and associated imaging- and laboratory-based biomarkers. The Biomarker Sciences Program is an excellent venue to promote the interests of member cancer centers and SPOREs (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence), ensuring involvement by their basic and translational scientists. ECOG-ACRIN also invites experts in genetic, RNA, miRNA, and protein-based assay development and leaders in imaging to participate in the program, regardless of their membership status in the Group.

Biomarker Sciences Committees

The program contains four scientific committees, which interface with the scientific committees of the Therapeutic Studies Program, which covers 11 cancer types. These committees also interface with the scientific committees of the Cancer Control and Outcomes Program on the development of biomarkers for chemo-prevention agents and the study of the biology of symptoms and symptom management.

• Biomarker Steering Committee
• Developmental Therapeutics Committee
• Imaging Committee
• Laboratory Science and Pathology Committee

The program is complemented by the Group’s Research Cores, a network of tissue and specimen banks, imaging archive, and translational science programs.