0.7 21st century technology, digital displacement, and the role of  (Page 15/17)

Another fruitful implication in the bio-info interface is found in computational cancer research. Cancer is not a hundred different diseases, but rather many thousands of different diseases. At least five mutations may be required to create a cancer cell, each drawn from a repertoire of as many as several hundred genes. So, there is an overwhelming number of possible combinations and permutations of cancer-causing mutations and they vary according to individuals’ genetic and epigenetic endowments. To illustrate, such a group at Cornell has created devices that rapidly identify mutations that cause tumors, thereby allowing more targeted, individualized therapies. Elsewhere, Israeli scientists in 2008 developed a DNA computer. This biological computer under certain conditions could release cancer-fighting drugs.

Also, our growing understanding of how human cells communicate with one another has led to totally new perspectives on cancer. Researchers in Cambridge (MA) have found that stroma , or non-cancer cells that host tumors, have a continuous dialogue with cancer cells inside the tumor. The signals they send may cause cancer cells to become more aggressive and then metastasize.

New approaches at the intersection of biotechnology and information technology also have wide applicability to the mainstay of 20th century biotechnology: new pharmaceutical products. For the 21st century, the difference will be that more and more pharmaceutical innovations will be IT based. Consider for example the new field of pharmacogenomics, which will allow the customized and personalization of much of medical treatments, eventually replacing traditional therapy based on the outmoded premise that “one drug fits all”.

Pharmacogenomics deals with the genetic basis underlying variable drug response in different individuals. It also relies on the study of sequence variations in genes thought to affect drug response: It looks at the entire genome, enabling not only the identification of variant genes governing different drug responses across patients, but also those genes that affect susceptibility to disease, allowing new insights into disease prevention as well as enhancing prospects for individualized application of drug therapy.

The potential for truly revolutionary work in the bio-info space has been greatly magnified by the September 2012 announcement of the results of the multi-year $180 million project called ENCODE. Previously, scientists believed that 22,000 genes underpin the “blueprint of human biology.” But these 20,000 were only 20% of the human genome. ENCODE examines the other 80%, and came to the startling conclusion that what was once believed to be “junk DNA” is not only biochemically active, but contains about 40,000 regulators to help activate or silence genes. ENCODE results provide insights that will lead to new ways to diagnose and treat diseases.

The nano-info interface

The graphene revolution accelerated in the late 1990s after Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov found a way to transfer ultra-thin flakes of graphene from scotch tape to a silicon wafer. Since then, graphene research has flowered greatly, not only on both sides of the Atlantic, but in Asia as well. Samsung alone holds at least 200 patents in graphenes.