We Can Work It Out: Collaboration Leads To Insights, New Targets In Epilepsy

A little scientific cooperation goes a long way.

Epilepsy researchers, who more than a decade ago forged a national collaboration, have discovered 25 new mutations around the neurological disorder. What’s more, they also uncovered two genes behind rare childhood forms of the disease.

But this is as much a case of the ends justifying the means, shining a light on the types of open research alliances that patient advocacy groups across a wide range of diseases have sought for years.

Researchers, research institutions and even companies are working more closely and openly. Take, for example, the University of California’s decision to join the Open Access Initiative, or melanoma survivor Marty Tenenbaum’s Cancer Commons and San Francisco’s CollabRx Inc. (NASDAQ: CLRX), whose software as a service technology is pooling vast amounts of clinical and research data in cancer and other diseases to better inform studies.