Technology at St' Jude Childrens Research Hospital

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Technology at St. Jude Childrens Research
Hospital

• By Kristin Rathke

May 22, 2006 Computer Society
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The mission of St. Jude Childrens Research
Hospital is to find cures for children with
catastrophic illnesses through research and
treatment.
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Founding of St. Jude

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded
  by entertainer Danny Thomas and opened in 1962. 
• Located in Memphis, Tennessee.
• St. Jude is supported primarily by funds from
  volunteer contributions raised by its national
  fund-raising arm, ALSAC (American Lebanese Syrian
  Associated Charities) which sole purpose of
  existence is to fund St. Jude

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About St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital

• St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital is the only
  hospital in the country solely dedicated to
  pediatric cancer
• St. Jude is the only pediatric research center
  where families never pay for treatment not
  covered by insurance, and families without
  insurance are never asked to pay.

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St. Jude Campus
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Patient Care

• About 4,700 patients are seen at St. Jude yearly,
  most of whom are treated on a continuing
  outpatient basis as part of ongoing research
  programs.
• The hospital's daily operating costs are
  approximately 1,146,616, which are primarily
  covered by public contributions.

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Computing Cures at Super Speed

• Back in 2004, St. Jude installed a supercomputer,
  an IBM eServer BladeCenter, which is equivalent
  to 280 servers working at once
• Now in 251st place among 500 super computers
  around the world
• The supercomputer, known technically as a Linux
  cluster, permits several projects at once

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Computing Cures at Super Speed

• Can perform more than 600 billion operations per
  second
• St. Jude is one of only two medical institutions
  and the only childrens research hospital on the
  list
• This resource is dedicated to research that will
  benefit children and, in the long run, benefit
  all people who suffer from some of the same
  catastrophic diseases that threaten children
  around the world. In that sense, although this is
  a St. Jude resource, it will produce knowledge
  that will be a resource for the entire world

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Hartwell Center

• Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and
  Biotechnology
• The Hartwell Center is unique in integrating
  high-throughput biotechnology services,
  bioinformatics support, and an academic division
  to provide St. Jude research programs the best
  possible research environment.The Center has
  evolved over a period of 20 years and has led to
  contributions to most research efforts and
  publications produced by St. Jude faculty and
  numerous discoveries impacting the diagnosis,
  classification, and treatment of pediatric
  diseases
• Video

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Hartwell Center

• St. Jude has eight doctoral-level
  bioinformaticists working in the Hartwell Center
  who provide expertise in mining genome data, gene
  expression data, proteomics data and other kinds
  of information.
• The supercomputer is being used by the
  Bioinformatics group and researchers in the
  Structural Biology department for many projects
  at St. Jude.

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Cutting Edge Research

• Scientists at St. Jude Childrens Research
  Hospital are using computer technology and new
  information about human genes to learn why some
  children with leukemia can be cured with few side
  effects while others reap no benefit from
  identical medications.
• This emerging field of science is called
  pharmacogenomics and could someday allow doctors
  to use genetic snapshots to determine how each
  patient will process drugs and how to adjust
  dosages accordingly.
• Genetic Testing is revolutionizing medical
  research

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3-D Radiation Therapy

• Using CAT scans and MRIs, radiologists create
  pictures that a computer converts into a 3-D
  image of a tumor exactly as it is positioned in
  the brain or other parts of the body.
  Computer-controlled radiation beams can then be
  meticulously aimed to attack the tumor while
  sparing healthy tissue.
• Computer-based 3-D radiation therapy technique
  for pediatric brain tumor treatment minimizes
  damage to healthy tissue and preserves cognitive
  development in children

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Other Research

• Researchers at SJCRH have completed the first
  large-scale study of bird flu virus genomes
• This has doubled the amount of genetic
  information available on the genes and proteins
  of these viruses
• The results of the project could lead to major
  insights into the bird flu virus known as H5N1
• St. Jude is uniquely positioned to conduct these
  studies because it houses a large collection of
  bird flu viruses collected over several decades.
• The Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and
  Biotechnology has provided the necessary
  expertise and biotechnology resources
• The supercomputer has the horsepower needed to
  conduct these studies.

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St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital is now and
always will be a beacon of hope for
catastrophically ill children around the world.
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References

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. (2006).
  Retrieved May 22, 2006, from     http//www.stjud
  e.org
• Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and
  Biotechnology. (2004). Retrieved May 22,2006,
  from St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital Web
  site http//www.hartwellcenter.org/