There are many disorders today that are not infections or viruses, but genome issues. Treatment and prevention of these diseases is limited by the fact that genome research is such a massive field. Disorders such as Autism, Alzheimers, and Down Syndrome are a result of DNA structuring. As such, treatment and prevention cannot be approached through the normal pharmaceutical routes; genome research is necessary to discover the approach that will work. The human genome is the DNA code that makes up a person. Over 25000 genes make up the genome, and each one makes a difference. Just a slight mutation in any one gene can cause a disorder such as Autism. This makes research difficult, because the entirety of the genome has to be studied. Because of the size of the DNA, it is extremely difficult to fit even one person’s genome on a computer, much less fit enough for cross-referencing. In the last sixty plus years since autism was discovered, advancement towards treatment has hardly advanced, simply because it was nearly impossible to investigate the human genome in pursuit of answers
This is where google comes in. The company is known for its amazing computer feats, including its sheer computing size abilities. Google has discovered the way to research genetic disorders – with a ton of computing. With the company’s servers, the genomes can be uploaded and inspected, and research can finally leap forward. The company was interested in pairing their data collection and analyzing software with a large-scale life-science project. Genomics is the perfect fit. With these genetic diseases, often each case is different. Each person who has autism has a different genetic mutation causing a different strain of autism, it isn’t necessarily an exact case duplicated each time. With the ability to compare genomes and do case studies and comparison, different strains and effects can be compared, leading to more knowledge than researchers ever before dreamed.
This new pairing, of AutismSpeaks researches and Google software shows a promising future of technology in healthcare. The advancements of computing abilities are finally beginning to meet needs in healthcare, especially healthcare research. As has happened in the past, as needs are met, more will arise, but the way solutions are being devised now is exciting. Connections between fields are more electric than ever, and lives are being changed and even saved by the cooperation of technology, medicine, and research. This promising development in Autism and genomic research is just the beginning of the grand scale technological impact we will see on our health.