Phase Forward announced that the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) has implemented Phase Forward’s InForm electronic data capture (EDC) product for a 500-subject pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) study. The DF/HCC is the largest cancer center in the U.S., with more than 900 faculty-level scientists performing clinical, basic and population research. Since standardizing on the InForm product in 2005, DF/HCC has implemented more than a dozen studies using the system. The pediatric ALL study is the largest study undertaken to date at DF/HCC using InForm. Pediatric ALL, a malignant disease of the bone marrow, is the most common form of childhood cancer. The study is designed to both improve survival rates and minimize toxicities associated with therapy. Read the press release.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announces the introduction of dbGaP, a new database designed to archive and distribute data from genome wide association (GWA) studies. dbGaP, the database of Genotype and Phenotype, will for the first time provide a central location for interested parties to see all study documentation and to view summaries of the measured variables in an organized and searchable web format. Read the press release.

Illumina announced that important results from genotyping research in Crohn's disease and Parkinson's disease (PD) using Illumina's Infinium HumanHap300 BeadChip were published in peer-reviewed journals, Science and The Lancet. Using the HumanHap300 BeadChip, a consortium of United States and Canadian researchers uncovered a breakthrough discovery in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The study's authors, who represent the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) IBD Genetics Consortium, found that variants in a gene that codes for part of the immune cell receptor for interleukin-23 (IL-23R) are strongly associated with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively called IBD. Findings from this study appeared in the December 1 issue of Science, and will be discussed during an Illumina-sponsored Webinar with lead authors on Monday, January 15, 2007. Website: www.illumina.com