My DNA was hacked
What will happen in 10 years
Three-dimensional cartography of the Moon, MRI and ultrasound without leaving the "smart" house, renewable energy sources that have replaced oil, invisible clothing and e–government - this is how the experts of the Skolkovo Foundation describe the future. They shared their vision of the world with the participants of the OtUS Winter School, organized by the Foundation together with the Open University of Skolkovo (OtUS) and held from February 1 to 6 in the Hypercube of the Innovation Center.
From the editorial office:
Forecasts about the development of technology can be found in the original article by Natalia Kharlamova on the website " <url>". And here is its first section:
Biomedicine
"Within 20-25 years, humanity will receive highly effective and low–toxic drugs for oncotherapy, and we will see a significant increase in life expectancy for cancer patients," said Kirill Kaem, Vice President, Executive Director of the biomedical cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation. In his opinion, biomedicine and biology are now the most attractive objects of investment and research in the world for the next decades.
Despite the fact that scientists have sequenced the human genome, computing power has grown significantly, molecular biology has stepped far ahead, cellular technologies are rapidly developing, and the miniaturization of sensors and chips has reached the micron level, the issue of full-fledged modeling of biological systems remains a matter of the future.
Biological mechanisms are more perfect than technical ones. For example, scientists cannot reproduce biological systems from the point of view of energy supply. Another example of the complexity of working with biological systems are issues related to human-computer interaction. "There is a high probability that humanity will inevitably encounter invasive interfaces. What can seriously push for human–computer interaction is photonics," Kaem noted.
Kirill Kayem. Photo: OtUS
The general technological trend is miniaturization, which is also noticeable in medicine – the number of sensors is increasing, convenient wearable devices are appearing that allow collecting a huge amount of data about a person's condition. A huge amount of genomic data is also accumulating. A tool that would allow these data to be analyzed, linked to genotypic, phenotypic features and clinical data will be able to accelerate and reduce the cost of drug development. And this tool is Big Data analytics systems (Big Data).
The medical trend in Big Data is, first of all, the development of medicines, and secondly, the adoption of clinical decisions. Although at the moment we are talking about making a decision not by a computer, but by a doctor. Kirill Kayem also clarified that Big Data analytics, operating with the huge amount of data available at the moment, can give the right direction of search for decision-making.
Healthcare is moving towards the patient. Humanity is more and more engaged in self-medication, open information systems for self-diagnosis are developing. This trend is supported by the fact that more and more people are acquiring wearable electronics, and mobile devices are constantly developing and increasing functionality (sugar level, heart rate, pressure, activity, diagnostic tests, etc.). Already today in the USA, thanks to Theranos (whose capitalization amounted to several billion dollars in a few months), a blood test can be done in a regular pharmacy. Tomorrow – the tests are done at home independently, the clinical picture is stored in the cloud, and communication with the doctor takes place remotely – via the Internet. The structure of healthcare costs and its insurance models will be focused on the availability of monitoring information about the patient/insured.
According to Kaem, reducing the size and bringing complex diagnostic equipment closer to the place of medical care (POC – PointOfCare) is a global trend. Skolkovo startups are also working to solve this problem. For example, the company "Cryoton" is developing a diagnostic system for magnetic mapping of the heart. Now you will need a Gazelle to transport the device, and you do not need to build a Faraday cage to reduce magnetic interference. And after a while, its size can be reduced to the size of a copier and even a mini-xerox. Eventually, the project will lead to the creation of a mobile installation for magnetic resonance imaging. Technically, ultrasound diagnostics at home is just around the corner, in 20 years it will be possible to do an MRI on its own.
Experiments with DNA have led to the emergence of technology that allows you to restore genomic defects. Molecular biology is moving so fast that in 5-7 years, with universal sequencing, we will be able to engage in genetic engineering. There are already companies engaged in DNA synthesis at a new level, while the synthesis itself is not regulated by the state in any way. It is expected that in 7-10 years the cost of technology for DNA synthesis will fall so much that there will be talk of the possibility of development conditionally "in the garage". "In principle, there are risks of teenagers creating not only computer viruses, but also biological ones. It is possible that in 7 years we will be talking about the fact that "my DNA was hacked"," the director of the biomedical cluster made me think about information security.
Advances in cellular and regenerative technologies will accelerate the development of medicines and, potentially, allow organs to be created using various technologies. For example, in Skolkovo there is a startup engaged in the creation of printers for three-dimensional bioprinting. First of all, the industry is in demand for printing fabrics that are necessary for drug development. In general, now the technology has matured to the printing of simple organs – trachea, esophagus, large vessels. "3D Bioprinting plans to print the spleen within three years," Kirill Kai shared.
The Director of Science of the biomedical cluster, Yuri Nikolsky, recalled that the history of DNA sequencing began 35 years ago, and today "genomes are sequenced much faster than we can interpret them."
In his opinion, today one of the most interesting and popular areas is pharmacogenomics, which studies a person's susceptibility to drugs in connection with his genome. "It has long been known that most medications do not work on most patients," Nikolsky stressed. In order to choose the optimal medicine, they now began to do human genotyping, determine the DNA sequence. At the same time, a breakthrough in drug development is expected due to epigenetics, which studies changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms that do not affect DNA sequences.
At the same time, in addition to genotyping, attempts to establish the responsibility of certain genes for the occurrence of diseases, there is another trend – people want to become invisible. So, the beinvisible project provides a $99 kit that allows you to erase DNA traces.
Nikolsky also announced the opening of the complex biology competition on March 1, 2015. The collection of works for the competition will last 2-3 months, and the final will be held at the bioinformatics conference at Moscow State University in July this year.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru18.02.2015