Dr Nikas is co-author of Mathematical Prognostic Biomarker Models for Treatment Response and Survival in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer, recently published in Cancer Informatics.  We asked Dr Nikas to tell us about the background to the paper.

To start please tell us about the genesis of your paper.  Why did you consider it to be important that it should be written?  How does it advance existing knowledge in the field?

We discovered twelve genes that are involved in the development of ovarian cancer, three of which are linked to the mechanism of action of taxol, which is the main component of the standard chemotherapy administered in ovarian cancer.  This made our findings very important in the fight against this disease.

Physicians will now be able to identify, immediately after surgery, those patients who will respond to the standard chemotherapy and those who will not.  This could lead to a significant increase in the survival rate of patients who do not respond to standard chemotherapy, since they can now undergo a different treatment from the outset, without wasting valuable time.

Our findings about the twelve genes may lead to the discovery of new smart drugs which could target most, if not all, of the genes, and could be far more successful in significantly increasing the survival rate of all ovarian cancer patients.

When writing a paper what challenges do you face?  How did these challenges impact this particular paper?  Is there anything you plan to do differently in the future to avoid them?

As a writer of scientific papers, what I consider the biggest challenge is the often unreasonable requirements on the part of a journal in terms of the length of the paper, the number of figures and tables allowed, and the very particular specification regarding the figures (format, size, resolution, colours, etc.).  All this necessitates an unwarrantably enormous investment of time on the part of the author and does very little to expedite the dissemination of scientific information.

Why did you choose to submit your paper to this journal?  What qualities of the journal did you find particularly appealing?  How long have you been aware of the journal?  Did publishing a paper in the journal alter your view of it?

In the age of information, where rapid, if not instantaneous, access to information defines every sector of the society, be it government, business, or academia, taking half a year or often more than a year to publish the findings of one's research makes little sense.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the case of biomedical sciences, where new treatments/cures, tests, and discoveries generally depend on the rapid exchange of information.

The Journal of Cancer Informatics is, in my view, the quintessence of today's and tomorrow's science journal.  Everything about the publishing process, from the submission and the peer review to the final publication is remarkably efficient, expeditious, and professional.  The staff, according to my experience, were very knowledgeable, thorough, and courteous.  I highly recommend publishing in Cancer Informatics.

What is your opinion of other papers recently published within the subject area of your paper? What do you think their strengths and weaknesses (if any) are?

Having read a number of papers published in Cancer Informatics, I noticed immediately that both the quality and the impact of the papers in that journal are very high.

Other publications by Dr Nikas may be accessed in PubMed

Dr Nikas may be reached at the University of Minnesota at:

Or at Applied Informatic Solutions

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