The National Cancer Institute wants to make certain the results of clinical research are rapidly disseminated to healthcare providers and patients, to ensure life-enhancing cancer treatments are widely available.

One of the biggest barriers research and academic institutions face is the ability to get discoveries made in the lab into clinical testing. The new Exploratory IND guidance emphasizes the flexibility available to researchers when conducting early clinical testing of these cutting-edge treatments. As we enter the era of personalized medicine, these exploratory approaches enable scientists to take full advantage of new technologies to target the development of more individualized therapies.

We believe that nanotechnology will have a transformative effect on cancer diagnosis and treatment. In fact, its impact is already visible in the research being conducted through many of the centers we are announcing today. Through the applications of nanotechnology, we will increase the rate of progress towards eliminating the suffering and death due to cancer.

Our purpose in this project is to begin to turn that fear of cancer, actually America's greatest fear, into a future, not only free of fear, but full of hope.

This cancer genome atlas project is all about the progress that is necessary for us to make cancer a chronic and manageable condition that no longer causes the suffering and death that we see all around us.

It will be an important step in our understanding of the genetic components of cancer and the genetic susceptibilities of people affected by cancer.