Cloud tools, data science and machine computing will make it possible to handle genomic information on a huge scale, and help in the automatic analysis of X-rays and pathological information
Google Cloud Platform and Stanford Medicine, one of the well-known academic-medical institutions in the US, announced a collaboration in which technological tools will help scientists and other medical workers to store and analyze a huge amount of genomic information, as part of the ambition to break new ground in the world of research and medical treatment.
Google predicts that the company's cloud computing tools (which comply with the HIPAA standard), along with machine learning and data science technologies - when combined with Stanford Medicine's expertise in the fields of genome and medicine - will lead to important progress in what is known as "Precision Health" , an approach in medicine that operates on the basis of prediction and prevention.
Google explains that this is an opportunity to combine data science tools with the world of patient care, through the integration of genomic information and traditional information collected in patient records. The collaboration between the parties will form the basis of the Clinical Genomics Service, a new service operated by Stanford Health Care, which aims to analyze thousands of patient genomes. Google's cloud platform will allow Stanford scientists and medical professionals to securely analyze these vast data sets immediately, and as the use of genomic information for medical applications grows, grow with it.
As genome sequencing processes become more economically available, more and more patients will be able to benefit from the products of these processes. Modern cloud technologies, combined with data science tools, can significantly improve genomic information analysis methods. Google's activity with Stanford is supposed, according to the parties, to build a new generation of platforms and tools, which will make it possible to perform genome analysis on a huge scale, and to provide information that can be applied about different types of genomes from different people - in a significantly shorter time than what characterizes these processes today.
Stanford researchers are already discussing several ideas for using these tools beyond the analysis of genomic information, including the application of machine learning techniques in order to train computers to read X-rays and pathological information, and to identify tumors and other medical problems. In addition, we will provide researchers with long-term information (anonymous, meaning it does not contain the identification of the patients from whom it was recorded) with which algorithms can be taught how to differentiate between false alarms and true alarms, for example in cases where an automatic alarm is activated in the hospital when there is actually no danger to the patient.
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Miracles
Heaven forbid not to invest. And it is clear that the investment should be in the direction with the most chance of success regardless of the estimated cost.
And yet there is something worrying here.
A.
I don't think there is a lack of resources in the world today - provided that the world's population does not grow too much, and provided that certain populations contribute their share...
The problem you raise is real. But, this does not mean that we should not invest in finding a solution to these terrible diseases.
Miracles
Sounds like most governments wouldn't even consider subsidizing it.
It sounds like unlike electronics, where it seems that as technology advances, the distinction between the rich and the poor world closes (you can see hunters with spears and smartphones)
In medicine the trend is opposite.
Even governments of developed countries find it difficult to meet this. In the future, a very large part of the budget will go to health, and we haven't started printing organs yet, which certainly won't be cheap. And without mentioning the increase in the percentage of Graters. In the end even social states may abandon the poor in the country.
In short, the future of medicine is not bright.
A.
Yes - the idea is simple: compare the genome of healthy cells with the genome of cancer cells. "The difference is the cancer". Now - they are checking which proteins this difference creates, and making sure that the immune system will create cells that will kill cells that produce these proteins
The realization is probably less simple...
You "just" need to make sure that the government covers it.
Miracles
I re-read what you wrote. And if I understood correctly, you are only talking about matching treatment with the help of a DNA test.
I thought you were talking about another type of treatments that are being developed today that are based on removing the cells of the immune system through some process and returning them to the body and all kinds of other such treatments.
Obviously, anything is better than the alternative. And yet there is something worrying about it. It is very logical that personalized medicine will be more effective but it is also clear that it will be more expensive. It seems that in the future healthcare will be just as expensive if not even more expensive than it is today. Quite different from the fantasy that people have always had about the future of medicine. live. Not going to be cheap.
A.
The test itself is very expensive - but it is done for free. The cost of treatment is also expensive, and tremendous efforts are being made to lower costs on the one hand, and to get participation from insurance companies and/or the government on the other.
In trials - these innovative treatments are very effective and three injections, and sometimes less, are enough to cure cancer. So, the total cost is not sky high.
But - the most important point is that today, using these tools, cancer vaccines are being developed!
Think about the alternative - continuing chemotherapy: helps in a limited way in 20% of cases, and worsens the condition of a large part of the other patients.
Miracles
What scares me about these methods is that they sound very expensive, and also with almost no potential for a decrease in price. It is not simply a matter that is put into the body. This is a complex and detailed procedure that I fear only the world's rich will benefit from.
Avihu
You don't know how right you are! I am currently at a medical conference (with the participation of President Clinton), where cancer treatment methods based on the patient's genome are being presented. There are already amazing successes, and there are reasons to be optimistic.
Believe in technology. The revolution in medicine is on the way to the revolution made by the media. Within 20 years, hitting the target in future diseases and eliminating them while they are in their infancy. Unfortunately, future technology will not prevent hatred, lust, revenge, theft, and all the aforementioned mental illnesses
Terminator Genesis