Dr. Matthew J. Ellis on the Future of TCGA

Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, Oncology Division, Breast Oncology Section, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, discusses the future of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project.

The TCGA project was a good experiment and raised many questions, Ellis says, though researchers and doctors are still trying to figure out what to do next with regard to cancer research.

Ellis says the members of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are wrestling with budget issues while debating what would happen if the TCGA project is stopped.

Ellis says that the NCI is making the right decision by taking stock in what was discovered during TCGA project and exploring what is missing.

An area that needs further exploration is the integration of the information of the cancer cells at the protein level, Ellis says, as well as the interaction of small molecules and a tumor, and the role of the cell as a nanoscale biological computer.