This entry is part one in a series of instructional videos detailing a meta-analysis on eight different human gene expression studies looking at papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC). In this installment, I give some background on kidney cancer and detail the different types and subgroups identified in papillary renal cell carcinoma. (I never claimed to be a urologic oncologist, so please forgive any errors in my descriptions of the condition). Please subscribe to this YouTube channel or sign up to my blog to receive notifications on when the next video in the series is posted.
Inspiration for this meta-analysis on papillary kidney cancer came from an upcoming ‘Hackathon’ in May that brings together researchers, engineers and computer scientists to try to tackle challenging problems in life sciences. This year they are focusing on papillary renal-cell carcinoma type 1 (p1RCC), a disease that accounts for between 15 to 20% of all kidney cancers. Little is known about the genetic basis of sporadic papillary renal-cell carcinoma, and no effective forms of therapy for advanced disease exist.
Special thanks goes out to the biotech companies Illumina (Correlation Engine and Cohort Analyzer), Partek Inc. (Partek Genomics Suite) and Elsevier (Pathway Studio) for donating their platforms and providing technical assistance for this bioinformatics series.
-Michael Edwards PhD, Bioinfo Solutions LLC