ORIEN: For Physicians and Researchers

For Physicians

Principal Investigator: Kenneth Nepple, MD 
 
The Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) is a national initiative among leading cancer centers that promotes collaboration to drive research and discovery of personalized treatments for cancer. This cancer research collaboration partners U.S. cancer centers with M2Gen, a leading health informatics company based in Tampa, Florida, and pharmaceutical industry support. Patients being treated at ORIEN member cancer centers consent via the Total Cancer Care® Protocol to share their clinical, biospecimens, and molecular data through participation to create a large clinically annotated tissue repository. The focus is to leverage big data and genomic technology across institutional boundaries. 

At the University of Iowa, Total Cancer Care® study procedures and permissions are included in the comprehensive biorepository consent developed for the Patients Enhancing Research Collaborations at Holden (PERCH) program.  

PERCH and ORIEN objectives:

  • Provide a standard system for studying large numbers of patients and their tissue samples for future research through a large tissue and data repository
  • Perform research-grade whole exome sequencing and RNA sequencing for a subset of eligible patients
  • Create collaborations for projects and clinical trials among the ORIEN member institutions to study communities of patients with similar tumors and diseases based on molecular analysis with the aim of developing better therapeutic options for patients

If you would like a PERCH study representative to speak with a patient about enrollment, please email cancercenter-mer@healthcare.uiowa.edu or call 1-319-356-4502 to speak with a study representative.

For Researchers

As a part of the ORIEN and PERCH programs, the project allows for sharing of specimen, clinical, and genomic data, including whole exome and RNASeq data, to be used for future research studies.  Researchers who are interested in using the data or specimens collected under this protocol may complete a BioMER Project Request Form.