Scientists from Philip Morris International’s (PMI) Research and Development department partnered with IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center to verify industrial research processes related to systems biology (read more on www.sbvimprover.com).
The project aims to provide a measure of quality control for research and development by verifying the soundness of the methods used.
Starting in 2011, the team focused on two key challenges; the Diagnostic Signature Challenge and the Species Translation Challenge. The first challenge, conducted in 2012, aimed at assessing and verifying computational approaches that classify clinical samples. The objectives of the second challenge, in 2013, was to identify computational methods for inferring gene, phosphorylation and pathway response to a diverse range of stimuli from one species to another, as well as to understand the limitations of species translation and quantify the that translatability. The results were published in numerous scientific journals and media (read more on https://www.sbvimprover.com/sbv-improver/publications).
The third challenge, known as the Network Verification Challenge, is currently open and is a crowd-sourcing approach to verify and expand pre-defined biological networks. It is targeted at biology students, academics and biologically orientated industrial groups, and provides a great platform for biology students to apply in class knowledge in an open environment, build personal networks with students / researchers from other institites, and be recognized as one of the best performers in the challenge.
What is the challenge about?
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In the Network Verficiation Challenge, web-based graphical interfaces are used to visualize biological relationships. Crowdsourcing principles enable participants to annotate these relationships based on literature evidences. Gamification aspects are incorporated, to encourage biological domain experts to gather robust peer-reviewed information from which relationships can be identified and verified. Why should students participate in the challenge? The best performers, as of 28 January 2014, will be invited to a 3-day “jamboree” in Switzerland (March 2014) to resolve controversies with subject matter experts. The resulting network models will represent the current status of biological knowledge within the defined boundaries and remain available for continuous use and expansion by the scientific community. How can students participate in the challenge? Learn more on the NVC website www.sbvimprover.com/nvc and become part of the scientific community improving the understanding of biological processes. |
ISSIP members are asked to help promote sbv IMPROVER and the Network Verification Challenge to their student and research communities. For more information please visitwww.sbvimprover.com/nvc or contact the Peter Curle, Joanna Taylor and the rest of the sbv IMPROVER team on sbvimprover.rd@pmi.com.
Some quotes by Philip Morris International’s Research and Development department and IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center:
“sbv IMPROVER has given us the opportunity to put together an interdisciplinary team and use tailored computational techniques on this unique, exceptionally high-quality data-set. We are delighted our approach has proved so successful and that we have been able to contribute to this important initiative on species translatability. It is crucial that we continue to take steps to improve modeling capabilities as a complement to in vivo systems, and we would like to see how we could improve our predictions now that the Challenge is closed and the full data-set has been unblinded.” Prof. Gyan Bhanot, Rutgers University, November 2013
“With a diminishing return on investment on drug development, translational modeling is becoming an increasingly important focus in the pharmaceutical industry. The ultimate power lies in being able to confidently verify translational concepts in order to build truly informative clinical models. The techniques used in the sbv IMPROVER Species Translation Challenge, both in terms of the submissions and the challenge design, are highly relevant in helping us achieve this goal.” Dr. Carolyn Cho, Director, Modeling & Simulation, Global Development, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), November 2013
“There is a critical role for projects like sbv IMPROVER in unraveling the complexity of biological processes and in complementing the peer-review process to create more verifiable data and conclusions.” Prof. Peter Sorger, Professor of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, November 2012