Ο Watson, the system τεχνητής νοημοσύνης που έγινε διάσημο όταν νίκησε τους ανθρώπους στο τηλεπαιχνίδι Jeopardy!, αναλαμβάνει τώρα να αναλύσει ωκεανούς γενετικούς δεδομένων και να προτείνει θεραπείες για τον καρκίνο -ένα εγχείρημα που θα μπορούσε να φέρει νέα εποχή στην εξατομικευμένη ιατρική, εφόσον βέβαια πετύχει.
The announcement took place Thursday at his offices New York Genome Center, a nonprofit research organization working with IBM where Watson developed.
Ο John Kelly της ΙBM Research περιέγραψε τον Watson ως «γνωσιακό σύστημα» που μιμείται ορισμένες από τις ικανότητες του ανθρώπινου εγκεφάλου: προσλαμβάνει μεγάλους όγκους πληροφοριών, αναγνωρίζει τα σχετικά data, τα χρησιμοποιεί και μαθαίνει από τη χρήση τους.
Treatments "cut and sewn" to the patient's measure
In the new program, Watson will offer recommendations for personalized treatments, which are currently rarely available to patients and can take a week works by a team of genetic counselors and other experts.
As the CEO of the institute said Robert Daniel, the program will begin with the participation of 20 to 25 patients with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer that is usually fatal. The average survival time after diagnosis is just 14 months.
Unlike other research efforts, which focus on the discovery of new cancer-causing mutations, Watson will only try to find optimal personalized treatment.
The system will be fed with genetic DNA and mRNA sequences from the tumors and healthy tissues of the patients. In many patients, the tumors actually contain populations of different cells, which may have a different combination of mutations - a factor that is not usually taken into account in planning the treatment, but will be taken into account by Watson.
In addition, Watson has been trained in biochemistry by taking advantage of the fact that the American National Institutes of Health (NIH) have drawn up tables of human biochemical paths in machine-readable formats. Having this knowledge, the system can read the NIH PubMed database, which contains abstracts and full texts of almost all biomedical publications.
High-powered electronic envelope
Combining the bibliography with the genetic data of each patient, Watson will try to identify the mutations characterizing cancer cell populations, examine the metabolic pathways affected, and identify drugs that target proteins in these pathways.
He will thus be able to offer tips for the optimal treatment approach, although the final decision will be made by doctors.
Since the system gave positive results to the first 20-25 patients, the program could grow - in the attempt to accept all major hospitals in New York City.
The IBM has transferred Watson to the cloud (formerly occupied by a large array of computers), which facilitates its use also by other institutions.