- Researchers from EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Francis Crick Institute working within the framework of Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) project, created tumor development timelines for several cancer types including glioblastoma, and colorectal and ovarian adenocarcinoma . Their research established that “the mutations that initiate cancer progression may arise decades before diagnosis”. The study was published in Nature.
- Researchers at Cardiff University School of Medicine in Wales reported on a new method to fight a wide range of cancers including prostate, breast, lung and others. The method published in Nature Immunology is based on the power of the immune system; the researchers “used genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screening to establish that a T cell receptor (TCR) recognized and killed most human cancer types.” This animal study lays a foundation for further research on humans, which potentially can offer “universal” cancer immunotherapy.
- Researchers from Italy were able to increase the effect of immunotherapy by enhancing it with high doses of vitamin C. This animal study was published in Science Translational Medicine.
New Database: Timmerman Report
The Library has added a new database – the Timmerman Report. This is an independently-owned subscription publication that provides timely, in-depth biotech news and analysis. It’s for anyone who seeks to understand new drug development, regulatory issues, business strategies, diagnostics, genomics, and other technologies that are changing medicine.
The Timmerman Report will publish 2-3 stories per week on innovations, emerging trends, and market forces in the form of news, commentary, original features and a podcast. This database requires a login and password, and can be accessed here.
Have You Heard of the “Journal Transparency Index”?
A new metric will be launching from the Center for Open Science focusing on scholarly journals and measuring their commitment to research transparency, according to a recent article entitled, “Journal transparency index will be ‘alternative’ to impact scores.” (January 29, 2020)
The background for this measurement can be found with the Transparency & Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines, a metric that reports the steps that a journal takes to implement open science practices. In reviewing the list of TOP Implementors, as of June 2019, there were over 1,100 journals that have applied one or more TOP-compliant policies including Science (AAAS), and many Nature Springer titles.
The guidelines cover eight transparency standards (citation, data transparency, analytic methods (code) transparency, research materials transparency, design & analysis transparency, preregistration of studies, preregistration of analysis plans, and replication). Within each standard, there are three levels of implementation (also referred to as levels of increasing stringency), as well as a “not implemented” category. The higher the score in this evaluation rubric, the higher level of support the journal publisher is providing in promoting and encouraging open science.
Among these measures of assessment is data sharing, wherein a journal could score up to three points. In order for this to happen, a data availability statement must be included, authors would be required to share their data, and the study should be reproducible based on the data provided.
As with any measurement, time ultimately is required to determine the impact of this journal assessment or score. This ranking system might very well contribute to research transparency and is a step in the right direction in supporting the reproducibility crisis.
Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services