Tempus, a leading technology company advancing precision medicine through the collection and analysis of molecular and clinical data, announced a new research collaboration with the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center at LSU aimed at improving outcomes for patients battling brain cancer.
As part of this research study, Tempus will work directly with Dr. Maria-Magdalena Georgescu, M.D., P.h.D. Dr. Georgescu studies patients diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and deadly primary brain tumor, and also patients diagnosed with metastatic disease to the brain who are unlikely to respond to conventional therapies, mainly due to breast cancer and NSCLC.
In this partnership, Tempus will perform genomic sequencing and clinical data structuring for the patients, while LSU Health Shreveport will provide de-identified clinical data to be matched to the molecular data that is generated. Utilizing machine learning and advanced bioinformatics, Tempus will analyze these new data sets in a search for potentially relevant patterns of clinical progression and response to therapy in these patients battling cancer.
Glioblastomas and DIPGs are highly malignant neoplasms that grow and invade normal brain quickly, leaving healthcare providers with limited options. For both adults and children with these tumors, the median survival is approximately 15 months. The existing approaches to treat GBM patients are not sufficient, and a comprehensive data set is needed to link patient characteristics and outcomes to ultimately identify a better path forward.
“At LSU Health Shreveport & The Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, our mission is to reduce the impact of cancer in our community,” said Dr. Georgescu. “Working with Tempus allows our researchers to access analytics and tools that enable them to better understand the molecular composition of these patients’ tumors and how their genomic profile relates to therapy targets, therapy response, and outcome.”
“The collection of clinical and molecular data is key to efforts to understand cancer,” said Eric Lefkofsky, Founder and CEO at Tempus. “As we continue to work hand-in-hand with hospital systems such as the LSU Health Shreveport & The Feist-Weiller Cancer Center and grow our understanding of cancer that is affecting the brain, we hope to uncover patterns of clinical significance that will benefit patients diagnosed with this often lethal disease.”
Tempus is currently working with a number of academic centers and hospital systems on GBM related research initiatives, including Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University, Duke University School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. In addition, Tempus continues to work with clinicians across the country who treat patients diagnosed with GBM.
Tempus, founded in 2015, continues to expand its network of partners and is currently working with leading academic medical centers, National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers, hospital networks, and community oncologists across the United States.