This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release August 1, 1997

                 VICE PRESIDENT GORE UNVEILS NEW WEBSITE
                  TO AID RESEARCH OF CANCER DEVELOPMENT

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Gore unveiled the National Cancer Institute's new Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP) website today, which will generate an unprecedented body of information about the genetic changes that accumulate in a normal cell as it turns into a cancer cell.

From their office and laboratory computers, scientists across the world will now be able to access data that will assist them in determining new genes that play a role in cancer and find out when known genes become active or silent in the development of tumors. This information will lead to new ways to prevent, detect early and treat different types of cancer.

"The CGAP project and website highlight the rapid progress that can be made when technology development and scientific discovery work hand in hand," said the Vice President. "We hope this project will eventually have an impact on every aspect of the fight against cancer."

Beginning today, the website can be accessed at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ncigap/

"CGAP will add thousands of new pieces to the cancer puzzle," said Richard Klausner, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute, who demonstrated the website along with the Vice President at the White House event. "As we access where each piece fits into the process, we can begin to target these key pieces, or molecules in detecting and treating cancer."

In addition to the approximately $3.5 million in support for CGAP by the National Cancer Institute in the current fiscal year, other support for the project has been provided by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (part of the National Library of Medicine), the Department of Energy, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genetech, Glaxo Wellcome, and Merck & Co.

The information on the CGAP website will be linked with other databases around the world such as those that contain information arising from the Human Genome Project. By bringing together all the information about active or silent genes in a specific tumor-type, CGAP will help scientists make more progress in the fight against cancer.

###