Supporting the clinical trial recruitment process through the grid

Stell, A.J., Sinnott, R.O. and Ajayi, O. (2006) Supporting the clinical trial recruitment process through the grid. In: Cox, S.J. (ed.) Proceedings of the UK e-Science All Hands Meeting 2006 : Nottingham, UK, 18th-21st September. National e-Science Centre: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780955398810

Abstract

Patient recruitment for clinical trials and studies is a large-scale task. To test a given drug for example, it is desirable that as large a pool of suitable candidates is used as possible to support reliable assessment of often moderate effects of the drugs. To make such a recruitment campaign successful, it is necessary to efficiently target the petitioning of these potential subjects. Because of the necessarily large numbers involved in such campaigns, this is a problem that naturally lends itself to the paradigm of Grid technology. However the accumulation and linkage of data sets across clinical domain boundaries poses challenges due to the sensitivity of the data involved that are atypical of other Grid domains. This includes handling the privacy and integrity of data, and importantly the process by which data can be collected and used, and ensuring for example that patient involvement and consent is dealt with appropriately throughout the clinical trials process. This paper describes a Grid infrastructure developed as part of the MRC funded VOTES project (Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies) at the National e-Science Centre in Glasgow that supports these processes and the different security requirements specific to this domain.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Stell, Mr Anthony and Sinnott, Professor Richard
• Authors: Stell, A.J., Sinnott, R.O., and Ajayi, O.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science; University Services > IT Services > Computing Service
• Publisher: National e-Science Centre
• ISBN: 9780955398810
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2006 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the author.