Cancer Research UK announced Friday, March 1, that its scientists are working with Amazon, Facebook and Google to help with finding a cure for cancer. The charity will work with these three major technology giants to create a mobile game to assist with the search for a cure.
Cancer Research UK is investing in cancer research studies that require the analysis of enormous amounts of genetic data. Scientists are using the genetic fingerprint of patients to find genetic faults that will lead to alternative ways to diagnose and treat cancer. Although modern technology enables scientists to conduct in-depth probes of tumors, machines can't do everything. The human eye is better at detecting changes than machines can, which can lead to more clues about the causes of the disease.
A special event called GameJam will be held over the weekend (March 1-3) in which 40 computer geeks will help to convert Cancer Research UK's raw gene data into a game for people to play. The goal of the "hackathon" event is to create a fun and scientific game for "citizen scientists" that will engage the public in the process of helping to analyze gene data. The "GeneRun" game will be officially launched in the summer of 2013, available as a downloadable app for mobile devices.
Expertise from Facebook UK's engineering team will support the GameJam and Facebook is heavily involved with the coordination of the event.
"For us to be involved in something as important as the search for cures for cancer is a huge honour and we hope to help build on the incredible work done by Cancer Research UK," said Philip Su, engineering site director of Facebook London in a press release. Attendees of the event are made possible through Facbook's relationships with local universities.
"At Facebook we believe the best way to solve a problem is to bring smart people together to 'hack' a solution," Su said.
Google is sponsoring and hosting the hackathon at Campus, a space located in the heart of East London's Tech City. "We think this is a great initiative and we are very excited to be able to support this project," said Theo Bertram, public policy manager at Google.
"We're making great progress in understanding the genetic reasons cancer develops. But the clues to why some drugs will work and some won't, are held in data which need to be analyzed by the human eye — and this could take years. By harnessing the collective power of citizen scientists we'll accelerate the discovery of new ways to diagnose and treat cancer much more precisely," said Cancer Research UK.
"It is exciting to be part of this project and use cloud technology, and gamification of data, to help in driving research towards finding a cure for cancer," said Teresa Carlson, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services. Amazon will host the game free of charge and will prove free tech support assistance to participants of the GeneRun games.
