IBM Watson for Genomics is a DNA analysis software running on the cloud. It can analyze genome data and estimate mechanisms behind tumors. Currently, researchers are training it to recognize how brain tumors, leukemia, and other cancer types work. IBM Watson is then going to help researchers by recognizing disease and genome information, going through the patient’s health record, comparing the case to literature, and finally, suggest the best treatment approaches. The article is here.
I think this is a significant step for cancer treatment. A typical doctor has very limited knowledge about maybe one type of cancer, even if he reads dozens of books and articles every day without sleeping. Compared to 50 million articles per second speed of Watson, this is next to nothing. Having Watson assist doctors by at least making a better assessment of the patient’s situation, while evaluating everything about a patient, would reduce wrong treatment and loss of life to a minimum. I hope eventually this is accessible to everyone and helps diagnose and cure other diseases without human error.
