Google DeepMind released AlphaGenome Atlas last week. This is like an atlas for DNA.
This has an API to access the data and its predictions. The API is free unless used commercially.
It has a 1-petabyte database of 9 billion possible variations in the human genome.
As DeepMind says, the Atlas maps each DNA letter in the human genome to its molecular effect. These are predictions, not a cure. They need to be experimentally correlated.
This should pave the way for the following:
1. Detection of cancer
2. Drug Discovery for cancer
3. Helping AI find a cure for diseases like cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s
There are millions of variations in a person’s DNA.
2% of human DNA directly encodes proteins. The remaining 98% guides other parameters that have not been thoroughly studied. Doctors have not yet looked into this side of the DNA. Errors in this part of the genome can be examined in the AlphaGenome Atlas.
Suppose a genome has 4 million errors. With the help of the AlphaGenome Atlas, they can predict the disease; however, they need clinical verification. Once verified, drug discovery research can follow.
One question is why typos? Next question is can we heal it? And the third question is, how to correct it. What design of drugs and at what time.
Why is this good news? AlphaGenome Atlas?
1. It solves the Genome’s “98% Dark Matter” Problem. It reduces the cost now to find errors in the genome quickly and in much cheaper way.
2. Every single mutation is noted, and errors are highlighted. Cancer also happens in mutated cells. So, early cancer detection is not far away.
3. It’s free for research work.
What to do? What next?
If you know medical professionals who do research and you are in AI, it is time to join hands and take this further. You can clinically correlate the genes. Now, the time and money needed to do the analysis are on your side. The project makes it cheaper to do many things in this medical field.
So, time for Medical startups.
Once done, drug discovery is the next step.
We need ways to avoid mutations and cure diseases like cancer. Cancer shows mutations.
We need to identify drugs that can stop or cure diseases in time, now that genome sequencing has been expedited.
Once again, it is still just an Atlas, not a route yet to reach the destination- the cure of diseases!
Towards a better future for all of us.
Thanks for reading.
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Artificial Intelligence and Future 