Secure, scalable, multi-cloud platform utilizing federated studying goals to speed up most cancers discoveries and coverings
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON / ACCESS Newswire / October 1, 2025 / The Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA) – a analysis collaboration of high most cancers facilities – as we speak introduced the primary scalable platform utilizing federated studying for most cancers analysis.
Federated studying graphic
An overview of the federated studying course of.
CAIA is comprised of National Cancer Institute-designated most cancers facilities Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins with monetary and technical assist from expertise business leaders Amazon Web Services (AWS), Deloitte, Ai2 (Allen Institute for AI), Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Slalom.
The platform serves because the technological basis of CAIA’s intention to save lots of extra lives by enabling researchers and clinicians to coach AI fashions that be taught from collaborating most cancers facilities’ tens of millions of medical knowledge factors whereas sustaining knowledge safety, privateness and adherence to regulatory and moral requirements.
“We are at an urgent inflection point in both cancer research and AI, and this platform enables us to rise to this moment by rapidly advancing cancer research, treatments and care,” mentioned Jeff Leek, PhD, vp and chief knowledge officer at Fred Hutch and holder of the J. Orin Edson Foundation Endowed Chair.
“Currently, it takes years to uncover new insights that can be translated into better treatments and care, but this platform will accelerate the pace of breakthrough discoveries by up to tenfold, reducing that time from years to months,” mentioned Leek, who can be the founder and scientific director of CAIA and a member of its steering committee.
“It cannot be overstated how momentous it is that we came together to launch this platform in just one year, and we did it as a unified alliance with a shared mission to eradicate cancer,” mentioned Brian M. Bot, director of the strategic coordinating middle for CAIA.
While federated studying – a machine studying technique that preserves anonymity of particular person knowledge – has been gaining steam for almost 10 years, adapting the expertise for multi-institution use in most cancers analysis has proved elusive attributable to important technological, regulatory, affected person privateness and knowledge harmonization challenges, in addition to the coordination effort essential to convey collectively organizations of this scale and complexity.
Development of CAIA’s platform was attainable attributable to an intense give attention to collaboration and a drive for collective motion throughout the collaborating most cancers facilities and expertise firms, leading to a unified technical, authorized and governance construction.
“CAIA represents a strategic shift leveraging collective strength rather than isolation,” mentioned Anaeze Offodile, MD, MPH, chief technique officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “By combining MSK’s clinical expertise with the alliance’s capital, network of technology partners, data and federated framework, we can accelerate meaningful advances in cancer care while upholding the highest standards of security and integrity. Together, we move closer to the shared goal of reducing-and ultimately eliminating-the burden of cancer.”
The federated studying platform works like this: collaborating most cancers facilities implement federated studying expertise at their establishments, every connecting to a centralized orchestration part of the platform. Using this structure, AI fashions journey to every collaborating most cancers middle’s safe knowledge to be taught from it regionally, producing a abstract of its learnings with out particular person medical knowledge ever leaving institutional firewalls. The insights gained from coaching the mannequin on every most cancers middle’s de-identified knowledge are then aggregated centrally to strengthen the AI fashions to uncover patterns, maximizing the worth of the collective data base.
Enabling researchers to develop fashions on knowledge from a number of most cancers facilities by a collaborative, federated studying ecosystem creates a paradigm shift from fixing issues in isolation to fixing them collectively. More importantly, these up to date AI fashions may considerably enhance well being outcomes for most cancers sufferers by revealing traits throughout extra numerous populations and uncommon cancers.
“CAIA will enable unprecedented exploration of AI models for cancer patient data, through a privacy-aware technical framework and a collaborative research alliance,” mentioned Alexis Battle, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering and pc science, and director of the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, and director for Research Strategy and Partnerships, Data Science and AI Institute on the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.
“This could serve as a model for every cancer center in the country to join CAIA in this collaborative effort to unlock innovation in cancer care,” continued Vasan Yegnasubramanian, MD, PhD, professor of oncology, pathology, and radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences on the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and director of inHealth Precision Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Battle and Yegnasubramanian are members of the steering committee for CAIA.
Eight distinctive tasks are being launched by researchers throughout the collaborating most cancers facilities. These preliminary tasks intention to sort out a few of oncology’s most persistent challenges, from predicting remedy response to figuring out novel biomarkers and analyzing uncommon most cancers traits. The tasks use the federated studying platform and structured, de-identified knowledge housed securely by collaborating most cancers facilities, which collectively supplies a various and consultant basis of over 1 million sufferers for modeling and evaluation.
The platform’s true energy, nonetheless, lies in its potential to scale up. Over the following 12 months, CAIA plans to allow dozens of analysis fashions and add extra members to the alliance.
“With the launch of CAIA we have laid a critical foundation in the effort to accelerate new discoveries and the combined data from our cancer centers can now power these innovative AI models. We are excited to share these models with research centers across the nation and exponentially expand access to the data that will drive progress toward better diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for cancer patients everywhere,” mentioned Eliezer Van Allen, MD, Chandra Nohria Family Chair for AI in Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
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Additional CAIA collaborator quotes
“AWS is immensely proud to help power this industry-first collaboration with our cloud technology and LLM platforms, in support of CAIA’s mission to transform cancer research and care,” mentioned Dr. Angela Shippy, Senior Physician Executive and Clinical Innovation Lead at Amazon Web Services. “Collaboration often leads to discovery, and I’m eager to see what medical breakthroughs come from the collective expertise of these world-class cancer centers and global technology leaders.”
“At Deloitte, we believe collaboration drives progress,” mentioned Jason Girzadas, CEO of Deloitte US. “CAIA brings together leaders across industries to address one of the world’s most critical health challenges. The unprecedented speed of developing and delivering CAIA’s platform is made possible through each individual group driving toward this common goal, and Deloitte is proud to bring AI and strategy expertise to the Alliance.”
“We are proud to be part of this effort to bring the power of AI to the complex problem of cancer research,” mentioned Ali Farhadi, CEO of Ai2. “CAIA’s ability to bring together cancer centers in a collaborative effort with our state of the art AI tools is a powerful combination that will accelerate scientific progress and save lives. It’s been incredible to see our tools in the hands of oncologists and researchers, where their early efforts have already demonstrated incredible potential to unlock discoveries that could reshape healthcare and deliver life-changing outcomes for patients.”
“Google is honored to continue to partner with the Cancer AI Alliance,” mentioned Reymund Dumlao, Director, State and Local Government and Education, Google Public Sector. “This groundbreaking initiative represents a pivotal moment in our collective pursuit to eradicate cancer. By integrating advanced federated AI technologies with the expertise and data resources of leading cancer centers, we are establishing a secure, scalable platform designed to accelerate scientific discovery. This collaborative ecosystem will enable a unified effort against cancer, transforming research methods and expediting the delivery of innovative treatments to patients globally.”
“The collaborative work that CAIA has done will revolutionize how medical research is done, accelerate scientific discovery, and save lives,” mentioned Dr. William Weeks, Director of Health, Microsoft AI for Good Lab.
“At Slalom, we see the future of health as being the convergence of technology, data, and strategy to build better tomorrows for all,” mentioned Brenda Young, managing director at Slalom. “CAIA demonstrates how collaboration between leading cancer centers and technology partners can unlock new insights and reshape the use of Data & AI to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer. We look forward to our continued partnership as we pave the way for transformative breakthroughs in health.”
Media Contact:
Molly McElroy and Christina VerHeul
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About the Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA)
The Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA) is comprised of the nation’s high most cancers facilities with assist from expertise business leaders. CAIA goals to speed up most cancers discovery and remedy. Since its founding in 2024, CAIA has secured $65M in monetary and technical assist. Through this unprecedented collaboration, CAIA launched the primary scalable, multi-cloud federated studying platform for most cancers analysis, which permits researchers to coach AI fashions on numerous, multi-institutional medical knowledge whereas sustaining knowledge safety and privateness. By combining the collective data of its members, CAIA is on a mission to redefine the most cancers analysis panorama.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is without doubt one of the world’s main facilities of most cancers analysis and remedy. Dana-Farber’s mission is to scale back the burden of most cancers by scientific inquiry, medical care, schooling, group engagement and advocacy. Dana-Farber is a federally designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and a instructing affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
Dana-Farber is the one hospital nationwide with a high 3 U.S. News & World Report Best Cancer Hospital rating in each grownup and pediatric care.
As a international chief in oncology, Dana-Farber is devoted to a novel and equal stability between most cancers analysis and care, translating the outcomes of discovery into new therapies for sufferers regionally and all over the world, providing greater than 1,100 medical trials.
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Fred Hutch Cancer Center unites individualized care and superior analysis to offer the most recent most cancers remedy choices whereas accelerating discoveries that forestall, deal with and remedy most cancers and infectious ailments worldwide.
Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is an unbiased, nonprofit group and the one National Cancer Institute-designated most cancers middle in Washington. We have earned a world status for our observe document of discoveries in most cancers, infectious illness and primary analysis, together with necessary advances in bone marrow transplantation, immunotherapy, HIV/AIDS prevention and COVID-19 vaccines. Fred Hutch operates eight medical care websites that present medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton remedy and associated providers. Fred Hutch additionally serves as UW Medicine’s most cancers program.
Johns Hopkins University
As the nation’s first analysis college, Johns Hopkins’ mission is to foster cutting-edge analysis and innovation, to teach its college students and domesticate their capability for lifelong studying, and to convey thebenefits of discovery to the world by its 10 world-renowned colleges, and quite a few institutes and facilities.
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Since our founding greater than 50 years in the past, our medical pioneers led the best way to understanding most cancers by impactful analysis, growing novel therapies, and attending to the complicated wants of sufferers. Our consultants mapped the genomic blueprints for most cancers, deciphered the epigenome, found methods to make the immune system combat most cancers, eradicated the necessity for excellent matches in bone marrow transplant, pioneered life-saving surgical procedures, and introduced proton remedy and different superior applied sciences in radiation remedy.
Whiting School of Engineering
We advance data- and science-driven engineering discovery, innovation, and methods functions to assist everybody dwell longer and more healthy lives and empower communities and society to thrive even in excessive environments. With greater than 26 analysis facilities and institutes – together with the Data Science and AI Institute – and thru sturdy group, college, and business partnerships, Hopkins Engineering is a driving pressure in the way forward for expertise, well being care, and engineering schooling.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
The folks of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) are united by a singular mission: ending most cancers for life. Our specialised care groups present personalised, compassionate, knowledgeable care to sufferers of all ages. Informed by primary analysis completed at our Sloan Kettering Institute, scientists throughout MSK collaborate to conduct modern translational and medical analysis that’s driving a revolution in our understanding of most cancers as a illness and enhancing the power to stop, diagnose, and deal with it. MSK is devoted to coaching the following era of scientists and clinicians, who go on to pursue our mission at MSK and across the globe. One of the world’s most revered complete facilities devoted completely to most cancers, we’ve been acknowledged as one of many high two most cancers hospitals within the nation by U.S. News & World Report for greater than 30 years. www.mskcc.org
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Christina VerHeul
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(206) 667-2210
Molly McElroy
Sr. Communications Manager
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SOURCE: Fred Hutch Cancer Center
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