Cancer researchers around the world now have a powerful new tool at their fingertips that provides instant access to information on ongoing cancer research supported by cancer funding organizations within the United States and the United Kingdom.

The on-line database will allow scientists to identify possible collaborators, plan their next research applications based on current research, and facilitate a dialogue among cancer researchers. Moreover, access to information on ongoing investigations will aid cancer-funding organizations in strategic planning for future research spending.

The International Cancer Research Portfolio (ICRP) currently holds nearly 13,000 records, providing information on the funding organization, awardee institution, principal investigator, and a detailed abstract of the research.

Created by three members of the Common Scientific Outline Partners (CSO), a collaborative group of United States and United Kingdom cancer-funding organizations, the ICRP is a Web-based database that contains details of the current cancer research funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), a component of the National Institutes of Health of the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), and the U.K. National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) member organizations.

For the first time, information on ongoing research funded by the leading cancer research bodies is available at a single international Web site. Those browsing for information on cancer research can also be assured that all the listed research meets an accepted quality standard by competing for funding through peer-review systems. The database is designed to be user-friendly, and is searchable by a wide variety of criteria.

The ICRP initiative is the product of the efforts of a group of eight U.S. cancer funding organizations and 15 member organizations of the National Cancer Research Institute of the U.K., who came together in September 2000 and agreed to adopt a common coding system for classifying cancer research. Established by NCI to encourage meaningful comparison of research funded by different organizations, the CSO has provided a way for public and private international cancer research organizations to classify their research across seven broad areas of science. The CSO Partners believe that this system will facilitate planning of cancer research and make sure that valuable research funds are used with maximum impact to benefit cancer patients.

The ICRP will be updated regularly to ensure that it is a useful resource for the community. Plans are underway to expand the ICRP to include the research portfolios of other CSO partner organizations.