Big data has a number of applications in healthcare, from mapping out the genotypes of populations for public health initiatives to creating a more seamless and interoperable medical records system. As part of Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Task Force, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft are collaborating to leverage the cloud against cancer.
via LLNL.gov
There are a number of variables that go into cancer research: the molecular structure of cancer cells, to environmental and social factors, to personal genetic factors–and this is just scratching the service. The applications of cloud technology and big data stand to revolutionize the rate at which we can comprehend cancer, and greatly accelerate the rate at which we can one day eradicate it
There already is a vast amount of data on cancer research, but it is segmented and spread across various databases and formats. Even if researchers are able to access data, it is often the case that their computers simply do not have the storage capacity to take advantage of the large quantities of data available.
Earlier this year, the NCI launched the Genomic Data Commons (which collates several large genomic datasets and allows researchers everywhere to add to it) and the Cancer Genomic Cloud Pilots (which provides innovative method for parsing through cancer data). Together these two initiatives breathe new life into cancer research and grant researchers heretofore unheard of access.
NCI Genomic Data Commons
It’s a known fact that the most successful companies using cloud technology opt to share their data with others. To see government organizations freely share data, collaborate with private sector organizations, and to overall use their resources to contribute to a culture of innovation in cloud technology is a truly inspiring sight. With further collaboration between government and private sector organizations, we can one day hope to have a system of a system of compliance that pushes data-sharing and collaboration across the board.