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Gastric cancer registry leverages AI and other tech advances to power growth

As 2026 draws to a close, the Gastric Cancer Registry’s primary investigator, Hanlee Ji, MD, is enthusiastic about the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies to enhance what has become an essential research tool in the fight against the disease. Since its launch 15 years ago by the Gastric Cancer Foundation, the registry, housed at Stanford University, has become one of the most comprehensive repositories of data about people with stomach cancer. That data will be even more useful with the integration of technology advances, Ji predicted.

“The interest in gastric cancer research is as high as I've ever seen it,” said Ji, professor of medicine (oncology) at Stanford’s School of Medicine. “We’re seeing an increasing number of projects being launched that could leverage the resources and the information provided by the registry. All of that has been supported by the Gastric Cancer Foundation.”

The registry and its Genome Explorer portal charted several accomplishments in 2026, including:

Total cumulative enrollment in the registry jumped nearly 20% to 1,611 patients, with some of that growth driven by collaborations in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The registry now contains a total of 1,325 gastric cancer samples.
Two new resources will be added to the Genome Explorer, one containing single-cell genomics data and the other focusing on spatial transcriptomics.
The Gastric Cancer Registry team published several articles in major publications including Cancer Research and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and their research was featured prominently at major oncology conferences, including the American Association for Cancer Research 2026 Annual Meeting and ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.