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Enabling Precision Medicine in Cancer Care Through a Molecular Data Warehouse: The Moffitt Experience
Steven A Eschrich1, Jamie K Teer1, Phillip Reisman2
1Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL.
Purpose:
The use of genomics within cancer research and clinical oncology practice has become commonplace. Efforts such as The Cancer Genome Atlas have characterized the cancer genome and suggested a wealth of targets for implementing precision medicine strategies for patients with cancer. The data produced from research studies and clinical care have many potential secondary uses beyond their originally intended purpose. Effective storage, query, retrieval, and visualization of these data are essential to create an infrastructure to enable new discoveries in cancer research.
Methods:
Moffitt Cancer Center implemented a molecular data warehouse to complement the extensive enterprise clinical data warehouse (Health and Research Informatics). Seven different sequencing experiment types were included in the warehouse, with data from institutional research studies and clinical sequencing.
Results:
The implementation of the molecular warehouse involved the close collaboration of many teams with different expertise and a use case-focused approach. Cornerstones of project success included project planning, open communication, institutional buy-in, piloting the implementation, implementing custom solutions to address specific problems, data quality improvement, and data governance, unique aspects of which are featured here. We describe our experience in selecting, configuring, and loading molecular data into the molecular data warehouse. Specifically, we developed solutions for heterogeneous genomic sequencing cohorts (many different platforms) and integration with our existing clinical data warehouse.
Conclusion:
The implementation was ultimately successful despite challenges encountered, many of which can be generalized to other research cancer centers.
Insights
Moffitt Cancer Center successfully implemented a molecular data warehouse, integrating diverse genomic sequencing data with clinical information. This infrastructure supports precision medicine and future cancer research discoveries.
Area of Science:
- Genomic data analysis
- Cancer research informatics
- Precision medicine infrastructure
Background:
- Genomics is integral to cancer research and clinical oncology.
- The Cancer Genome Atlas has identified numerous precision medicine targets.
- Secondary uses of research and clinical data are crucial for discovery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the implementation of a molecular data warehouse at Moffitt Cancer Center.
- To create an infrastructure for effective storage, query, retrieval, and visualization of cancer genomic data.
- To enable secondary data uses for new discoveries in cancer research.
Main Methods:
- Implemented a molecular data warehouse complementing an existing clinical data warehouse.
- Included seven types of sequencing experiments from research and clinical studies.
- Emphasized collaboration, planning, communication, and a use-case approach.
Main Results:
- Successfully integrated heterogeneous genomic sequencing cohorts from various platforms.
- Developed custom solutions for data integration with the clinical data warehouse.
- Established a functional molecular data warehouse supporting cancer research.
Conclusions:
- The molecular data warehouse implementation was successful, despite challenges.
- Lessons learned are generalizable to other cancer research centers.
- The infrastructure facilitates advanced cancer research and precision medicine.
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