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Introduction to CTIIP

Most cancer diagnoses are made based on images. You have to see a tumor, or compare images of it over time, to determine its level of threat. Ultrasounds, MRIs, and X-rays are all common types of images that radiologists use to collect information about a patient and perhaps cause a doctor to recommend a biopsy. Once that section of the tumor is under the microscope, pathologists learn more about it. Radiologists and pathologists represent different scientific disciplines. To gather even more information, a doctor may order a genetic panel. If that panel shows that the patient has a genetic anomaly, the doctor or a geneticist may search for clinical trials that match it, or turn to therapies that researchers have already proven effective for this combination of tumor and genetic anomaly through recent advances in precision medicine.

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Data federation, a process whereby data is collected from different databases without ever copying or transferring the original data, is part of the new infrastructure. The software used to accomplish this data federation is Bindaas.  Bindaas is middleware that is also used to build the backend infrastructure of caMicroscope. The team is extending Bindaas with a data federation capability that makes it possible to query data from TCIA and TCGA.a middleware used to develop web services that allow data providers to share data, stored in databases, using a popular standard for developing web services called Representational State Transfer. Developers can use the REST interface with most modern languages to rapidly create and deploy applications that can consume data contained in the underlying database. Bindaas enables resource providers to rapidly generate APIs with only an understanding of the underlying data model. It is able to do so because it uses a declarative programming model that allows data providers to create REST APIs without having to write a single line of code. 

The Integrated Query System will access multiple data types in a federated fashion, meaning that the original data will reside in independent systems. The Integrated Query System will provide an interface  scientists can use to select the data types they want to combine, or "mash up," based on their own research questions.

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