Intel, along with the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), has created a cloud-based platform for cancer research.
Intel shared further details on Wednesday about the company’s plans to aid cancer research, Fortune reports. Intel has teamed up with the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU to create a cloud-computed platform.
Intel first announced its intentions to build the platform for cancer research in 2013. The goal was to build a research data center with OHSU that would enable researchers to access and study the genomic profile of tumors using Intel-powered supercomputing technology.
At its annual developer conference, the company has announced that they expect two new organizations to join the Collaborative Cancer Cloud next year. The company’s data analytics software system, Discovery Peak, will help process health related information in the cancer cloud.
The Collaborative Cancer Cloud is a “precision medicine analytics platform that allows institutions to securely share patient genomic, imaging, and clinical data for potentially lifesaving discoveries,” reports Venture Beat.
The cancer cloud will preserve the privacy and security of patients while allowing data to be analyzed all over the world. The plan is treat cancer patients on an individual basis, rather than the traditional, generic chemotherapy patients typically undergo.
In a blog post announcing the Collaborative Cancer Cloud, Eric Dishman – Intel health executive and cancer patient – wrote, “Instead of going through painful chemotherapy that can kill healthy cells along with cancerous cells, what would happen if those patients were able to be treated as individuals based on their specific genome sequencing, and a precision treatment plan could be tailored specifically for their disease?”
Each year millions of people all over the world, including more than 1 million patients in the United States, learn that they have a cancer diagnosis. Instead of going through painful chemotherapy that can kill healthy cells along with cancerous cells, what would happen if those patients were able to be treated as individuals based on their specific genome sequencing, and a precision treatment plan could be tailored specifically for their disease? And what if it could happen within 24 hours?
In other technology news, Intel was recently selected to build a $200 million supercomputer for Argonne National Laboratory.
