Transforming Data Into Cures

Using computational biology, AI, and big data analytics, MSK is empowering doctors and scientists to perform in-depth data analyses that will help improve cancer diagnosis, predict a patient’s response to treatment, and advance the care of people with cancer everywhere.

Support data science endeavors

Dr. Sohrab Shah speaks to an MSK staff member who is sitting in front of a computer monitor displaying an image of cells.

Expanding our understanding of troves of cancer data today

Our Computational Oncology program applies computer science, data engineering, machine learning, and software tools to advance care.
SKI’s Computational and Systems Biology Program combines biological findings with computer algorithms and databases for research.
Computational biology fellowships and undergraduate programs train young scientists.

So more people with cancer can live longer lives tomorrow

As we expand data collection and computational abilities, we are on the brink of discoveries that can improve the care of people with cancer everywhere. By studying how tumors evolve, we can learn to get ahead of them and stop them in their tracks. We may even be able to prevent cancer from developing in the first place.

Sohrab Shah, PhD, Nicholls-Biondi Chair and MSK’s first Chief of Computational Oncology, leads our work dedicated to harnessing MSK’s numerous big data resources and translating biologic knowledge into better patient care. 

Computational biologist Dr. Dana Pe’er looks at the camera, smiling.

Dana Pe’er, PhD, Alan and Sandra Gerry Endowed Chair and Chair of the Computational and Systems Biology Program, says, “What sets MSK apart is the ability for computational and cancer experts to work together as partners.”

Learn more about her work

Three MSK staff members standing in a lab, looking at a computer monitor

MSK researchers used computational methods to develop MSK-IMPACT®, which can detect more than 500 genes for cancer mutations and help match patients with treatments that target the molecules driving the growth of their cancers.

An elderly man sits in an exam chair and is speaking to an MSK clinician whose back is to the camera.

Thanks to MSK-IMPACT® testing of his advanced salivary gland cancer, doctors matched Albert Kuchler with an anti-cancer drug that destroyed the tumors throughout his body and kept his cancer at bay.

Read Albert’s story