On the leading edge of research into the treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Research Consortium — based at the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, works to collect and correlate information on every aspect of the etiology and treatment of this chronic disease. About 75 researchers, clinicians and physicians around the United States participate in the Consortium, sharing data and working toward improved treatment and ultimately toward a cure. FileMaker Pro databases keep much of this vital information organized and within easy reach of geographically distributed research sites.

Business Challenge

The eight sites that make up the consortium are scattered across the US, from east to west. "We're getting pieces of information from everywhere," comments Andrew Greaves, the Director of Biomedical Informatics for the Consortium. "We have geneticists, immunologists, pharmacologists, biochemists, and clinicians, all of them working on curing Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia."

All of that information needs to be readily accessible to research staff, and FileMaker Pro plays a vital role in that process. 70 percent of the information system is available to users over the web, with the remaining 30 percent in local client applications.

Successful Solution

The Consortium operates a wide assortment of FileMaker Pro databases. "We use what we call 'relational data–marts,' with backend data warehouses driving the data–marts", Andrew explains. "These 'warehouses' contain all of our data points, and these currently filter back to our MySQL server which actually stores our large dataset. We're currently testing the backend data warehouse in FileMaker Pro 7 to see if the speed is comparable, and if so we'll make the switch. So far, it's in the right neighborhood."

The research data stored in the system includes clinical data, genetic and molecular analysis, hematological studies, and detailed demographic data on each patient. "Our data is stored in a sort of push–pull situation," says Andrew. "The system pushes data back and forth to the data marts, which are relational web fronts that we use to deploy over the web. These will pull data from the warehouse in response to queries, or if new data is being submitted, the web fronts will push the information back down to the data warehouses. This allows us to do a lot of things that a standard relational model doesn't allow." The data warehouses contain hundreds of thousands of individual records.

FileMaker Pro 7 and FileMaker Pro Server Advanced offer us tools that make it so much easier to use XML and XSLT to transform the data into whatever we need. I can explain what I need to my staff, and they can go in and build it.

— Andrew Greaves, Director of Biomedical Informatics, CLL Research Consortium