Explore CCKP Resources

The Cancer Complexity Knowledge Portal (CCKP) is a venue to discover and access grants, datasets, publications, tools, and researcher profiles. This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to efficiently use the Explore Module.

CCKP Homepage

The CCKP homepage serves as the gateway to accessing cancer research resources.

Key Homepage Features

Welcome Section

Role-Based Search: Customize your experience by selecting your role from the dropdown menu. This helps tailor search results and recommendations to your specific needs.

Search Bar: Quickly find resources by entering keywords in the central search bar. The search function covers all resource types in the portal.

Example Search Terms: Below the search bar, you'll find suggested search terms that can help you discover relevant resources.

Portal Overview: The "What is the Cancer Complexity Portal?" section explains how the CCKP integrates datasets, publications, grant information, and other resources to streamline your research process.

Core Functions: The homepage highlights three primary ways to interact with the portal:

Explore: Browse through data, publications, and tools
Find: Search, filter, and refine to locate specific resources
Access: Retrieve datasets, publications, and tools for your research

Using the Search Feature

The CCKP search feature allows you to quickly find precisely what you need throughout the portal. This powerful tool searches across all resource types and provides filtered results based on your query.

Basic Search

Enter Keywords: Type relevant terms in the search bar at the top of the page to quickly find relevant information.

Review Results: Results are organized by resource type with the number of matches shown for each category, including: Grants, People, Publications, Datasets, Tools, Educational Resources, and Other.

Refining Your Search

Filter by Resource Type: Click on any resource type tab to view only those specific results

Examine Detailed Results: Each result includes:

Resource name and icon
Detailed description
Technical metadata

Search Tips

Use specific technical terms for more precise results.
Explore the suggested search terms for ideas on effective queries.
Select your role before searching to receive more relevant results.
Click on resource type tabs to focus your search when you know what type of resource you need.

Explore the Portal

Portal Goals

Find specialized cancer research resources tailored to your specific research questions and challenges.

Grants: Find funded projects and researchers working on similar challenges. Connect with potential collaborators based on shared research interests across institutions.
Data: Access curated datasets across cancer types, experimental conditions, and data modalities.
Research Software: Find specialized analytical tools developed for cancer research challenges including algorithms, models, and applications developed to interrogate and explore data.
Publications: Browse a library of peer-reviewed journal articles, consortia data, and methods relevant to your domain of expertise.
Educational Resources: Discover training resources across a range of formats and audiences.

What research themes are scientists currently focusing on?

Explore a visualization and interactive graph of the different focus areas featured throughout the portal.

The top visualization offers a breakdown of grants, separated by consortia. You can hover over any of the colored blocks for an exact number of grants per consortia, as seen below. You can also click on any of the blocks to arrive directly at a filtered selection of grants associated with that consortium.

Then, the bar plots below offers a breakdown of research themes, in terms of volume by resource type (i.e. datasets, publications, and tools). Each of these data types is represented by an icon, as presented in the legend at the top. You can hover over any of these icons to see a detailed count, as seen below. You can also click on any of the icons to arrive directly at a filtered selection of that data type, for that theme. For example, if you click on the publications icon in the Drug Resistance/Sensitivity plot, you’ll be taken to all of the publications associated with that research theme.

What’s New

Discover high-impact recent developments in cancer research tools, publications, and datasets selected for their potential to advance your work. This curated selection highlights innovations that address key methodological challenges and emerging research directions across the MC2 Center community.

Consortia

Access specialized resources and expertise from our NCI-funded research networks, all through a single portal.

Cancer Systems Biology Consortium (CSBC): Get computational models and multi-dimensional analysis tools that integrate experimental biology data—ideal for researchers tackling complex cancer systems.
Physical Sciences in Oncology Network (PS-ON): Find physics, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering approaches to cancer problems. Access resources from cross-disciplinary oncological teams.
Cancer Tissue Engineering Collaborative (TEC): Use advanced tissue models that mimic tumor environments. Access biomimetic technologies that provide more realistic testing platforms than traditional cell cultures.
Cellular Cancer Biology Imaging Research (CCBIR): Access cutting-edge imaging technologies and datasets that visualize cancer at cellular and subcellular levels—from early detection to treatment response.
Metastasis Research Network (MetNet): Get resources focused on cancer spread and metastasis. Access datasets and models that help understand how and why cancer cells migrate and survive in new locations.
Patient-Derived Models of Cancer (PDMC): Find patient-derived cancer models with matched datasets. Compare how different models from the same patient respond to treatments and interventions.

The Cancer Resource Information Ecosystem

This section provides access to essential cancer research tools and resources that support the complete research workflow. Researchers can find specialized databases, repositories, and analytical platforms that facilitate data discovery, integration, and analysis. These resources have been selected based on their utility for cancer research, data quality, and interoperability with other platforms in the ecosystem.

CCKP Explore Module

Explore is the hub for accessing feature-rich research data.

In the CCKP landing page, click Explore, then choose from the six available research categories to find your specific area of interest, including:

Grants
People
Publications
Datasets
Tools
Educational Resources

Resource Categories

Grants

The grants section helps discover funded projects from supported research consortia. Use this resource to explore project details, relevant datasets, tools, and publications.

People

Find researchers, check their affiliations, and explore their contributions to research.

Publications

Explore research papers, connect studies to datasets, and access peer-reviewed journal articles.

Datasets

Explore research generated data organized into structured collections. Browse the associated metadata like tumor type, assay, species and others to understand the nature of the data and filter datasets of choice.

Tools

Explore computational models, algorithms, and analytical software connected to research projects.

Educational Resources

Find tutorials, guidelines, and documentation to support your research and data analysis.

For additional information on navigating the Explore Module, visit Use Search, Filters, and Charts.

News

Stay informed about the latest developments in cancer research across the MC2 Center community. This page features new tools, significant publications, valuable datasets, and community updates that directly support your research objectives.

Principal Investigators can gain strategic insights into emerging research trends, tools, and collaboration opportunities that inform funding decisions, enhance lab capabilities, and position their research programs competitively within the cancer research landscape.

Researchers may discover emerging methodologies, access recently published findings, and identify new collaboration opportunities within the MC2 Center ecosystem.

Help

This is your portal to the CCKP documentation. Access role-specific documentation and guides that streamline your experience within the CCKP. Targeted guides and walkthroughs help navigate the portal efficiently to maximize CCKP’s value for your specific needs.

Portals

Use the portals to expand your research capabilities by accessing Sage Bionetworks' interconnected ecosystem of specialized data. This gateway connects you to complementary research platforms across diverse biomedical domains, from Alzheimer's and arthritis to digital health and precision oncology, providing cross-disciplinary discoveries and broader data integration opportunities beyond cancer complexity.

Synapse Login

Log in with to your Synapse account to manage your research activities efficiently and navigate to the Synapse ecosystem directly from the CCKP.