"Just think of the application of Google to genomics," said Hennessy. "There are large databases, lots of information, and the need for search." With the addition of specialized data, he said, Google's index could aid in new discoveries in genetics. "You want to be able to use a search system that is content-dependent, with the genome and structure of DNA already built in. It is one of many potential areas where you can see this so-called 'intelligent search' making a big difference. We are going to see more and more of it."
Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher, deputy director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said Google's involvement in genetics is particularly meaningful because of its capacity to search and find specific genes and genetic abnormalities that cause diseases. He also said that its massive computing power can be used to analyze vast quantities of data with billions of parts-quantities that scientists in laboratories do not have the capacity to process. The old model of a scientist working in a lab, he said, is being replaced by the new paradigm of a researcher working at a computer, connected to databases through the Internet, and doing simulations in cyberspace. "Until recently, the challenge has been gathering data," Guttmacher said. "Now, the bigger challenge is organizing and assessing it. Google-like approaches are the key to doing that. It completely accelerates and changes the way science is done. We are beginning to have incredible tools to understand the biology of human diseases in ways we never have before, and to come up with novel ways to prevent and treat them."
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Over dinner and plenty of wine in February 2005, Sergey Brin discussed the prospects for genetics and Google with the maverick biologist Dr. Craig Venter. Venter, who had decoded the human genome, was in the midst of gathering oceanic samples from around the world and sending them back to the U.S. for analysis of nature's DNA. Despite millions of dollars in funding and thousands of hours of computing time from the federal Department of Energy, Venter needed more help to unlock the molecular myster- ies of life. It seemed to him that Google's mathematicians, scientists, technologists, and computing power had the potential to vault his research forward. He pressed Brin hard to get Google involved.
Also at the table was Ryan Phelan, chief executive officer of DNA Direct, one of the foremost Internet companies providing individuals with genetic testing and counseling. DNA Direct gets nearly all of its patients through ads it buys on Google. The ads appear to the right of the free search results when users type in "blood clotting," "breast cancer," "cystic fibrosis" or certain other diseases. Brin, Venter, and Phelan were among those who had been invited to a dinner of the wealthy and wise at Cibo, a trendy Italian bistro in Monterey, California. Brin had brought along his friend Anne Wojcicki, a health care investor whose sister is a senior executive at Google. Seated nearby was early Google investor Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.
"What [Venter] was talking about with Sergey was, 'How can you use Google to really help access everything at the genetic level?' " Phelan recalled. "What Craig was after was pure raw science. What I was hearing was, 'What if Google was the repository for the distribution of this information?' Sergey is so intellectually engaging. He was trying to pull out from Craig how you could use Google and how it could make a difference."
Google is not averse to contributing to the scientific efforts of others. It teamed up with Stanford several years ago to provide computing power for a scientific project that focused on unfolding proteins. The process of protein folding is one of the keys to understanding biology, yet very little is known about how it works. It is believed by some that when proteins fold incorrectly, it can lead to serious diseases, ranging from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's to many types of cancer. The Stanford project utilized idle computer time from the PCs of individual volunteers and organizations like Google that agreed to apply excess computational power to the gargantuan effort to simulate the protein-folding process in 3-D. Google also made it easy for individuals who downloaded its search toolbar to sign up for the Stanford program, so that while they were away or asleep their computers could be utilized in the cause of science. The extra computing power accelerated the simulation and analysis of protein folding. "Modeling even the simplest of proteins can be computationally very, very challenging," Brin said.
Not long after the dinner in California, Brin and Page teamed up with Venter. The biologist gained access to Google's immense computing power and personnel. He said this would accelerate analysis of molecular data and significantly increase the likelihood of advances in both applied health care and basic scientific research.
"We need to use the largest computers in the world," Venter said. "Larry and Sergey have been excited about our work and about giving us access to their computers and their algorithm guys and scientists to improve the process of analyzing data. It shows the broadness of their thinking. Genetic information is going to be the leading edge of information that is going to change the world. Working with Google, we are trying to generate a gene catalogue to characterize all the genes on the planet and understand their evolutionary development. Geneticists have wanted to do this for generations."
Over time, Venter said, Google will build up a genetic database, analyze it, and find meaningful correlations for individuals and populations. It is utilizing the 30,000 genes discovered by Venter and scientists from the National Institutes of Health when they were racing to beat one another to map the human genome. On June 26, 2000, federal researchers and those from the private sector came together at the White House to announce that their race to map the human genome had ended in a tie. Shortly thereafter, Venter and scientists from NIH made the genetic information they had gathered publicly available on the Internet, a stark contrast to the days when scientists hoarded data. Google went on to post a double helix doodle on its Web site to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA, the material inside cells that carries genetic information.
Google's data-mining techniques appear well-suited to the formidable challenges posed by analyzing the genetic sequence. It has begun work on this project, but has not been required to disclose any information about it publicly since the work has no impact on its current revenue and profits.
Brin, who has long had a serious interest in molecular biology, is deeply engaged by the role that Google can play in enhancing "the ability for cellular biologists and other kinds of medical researchers to be able to start to use data clusters like we have at Google, and certainly like the ones we're going to have in a decade or two decades' time, and be able to do completely new things that we weren't able to dream of before." The implications could be significant for individuals. While genetics does not necessarily provide yes-or-no answers to various medical and other questions, it does offer probabilities and statistics that can guide decisionmaking.
The Google Story