Accelerated Cure Project (ACP) for Multiple Sclerosis, a national non-profit organization focused on promoting research to find a cure for MS, has engaged Rancho BioSciences to curate a large clinical and experimental dataset as part of its commitment to the Orion Bionetworks‘ mission of building computational models of MS disease progression.

ACP, a founding member of the Orion Bionetworks Alliance, maintains the ACP Repository, a set of more than 3,000 clinical Case Report Forms, and associated blood samples, from people with multiple sclerosis, selected demyelinating diseases, and unaffected controls. ACP promotes the use of these resources by qualified research organizations (both academic and for-profit) with the proviso that research results obtained from these samples be returned to ACP for dissemination to, and utilization by, other researchers working to address the needs of the sample population. In alignment with its mission, ACP has agreed to make these datasets available to members of the Orion Bionetworks Alliance in order to facilitate the formation of valid computational models of disease progression.

Robert McBurney, CEO of ACP notes, Subsets of the ACP BioRepository samples have been utilized in more than 70 research studies around the world. The datasets returned to the repository database from experiments performed on these samples are widely diverse, and range from GWAS and gene expression data to the results of high-throughput antibody, and metabolite measurements. We have incredibly rich and deep information on subsets of our samples, but the task of curating and integrating all these varied types of experimental and clinical data in a unified warehouse for analysis was daunting. Rancho BioSciences provides the expertise and resources we require on site.”

Rancho BioSciences is thrilled to join in this effort,” says Julie Bryant, founder and CEO of Rancho BioSciences. ACP has generated a powerful weapon in the fight against MS, and our expertise in data curation and inside knowledge of tranSMART will bring this resource to bear sooner and with more impact than would otherwise have been possible. In the field of computational modeling, good seed and test data is an essential resource; ACP and Rancho BioSciences working together can provide that.”

About Rancho BioSciences
Rancho BioSciences is a fee for service life science company leveraging open source tools and public domain data in Pharma, non-profit foundations and academia.

We have a team of experienced PhD scientists around the world that deliver high quality work on time and on budget. Our goal is to help the life science community build better tools and take advantage of a wealth of scientific data by supporting and developing open source platforms.

For more information about Rancho BioSciences, see here.

About Accelerated Cure Project for MS (ACP)
ACP is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to accelerate research efforts to improve the quality of life for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), to cure the disease and, ultimately, prevent it. The organization promotes scientific collaboration and accelerates research by rapidly and cost-effectively providing researchers with data and biospecimens they need to explore novel research ideas that can lead to better care for people with MS. Its strategic initiatives include:

• The OPT-UP Program: A large-scale, real-world treatment outcomes clinical study and collaborative research program to optimize treatment of MS and understand progressive disability;
• The ACP Repository: A collection of highly characterized biosamples and data from over 3,000 subjects, available to any scientists conducting research that can positively impact people with MS; and,
• The Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum: An online community connecting, educating and challenging researchers (http://www.msdiscovery.org).

The organization’s innovative approach enables MS research to advance rapidly and catalyzes collaborative efforts toward a significant impact on this devastating disease. Its resources have supported 70 research studies worldwide and generated almost 300 million returned data points for collaborative data mining and disease modeling.

View the online press release