HealthNex

The Analytics Virtual Center

Over the course of 2009, IBM opened centers in Berlin, Beijing, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington D.C.  to advance the frontier of analytics: namely turning big data into new intelligence, predictive capabilities and insight. Healthcare is one area where analytics holds great promise.

To support those physical solution centers we launched the Analytics Virtual Center (AVC) at the start of 2010, and welcome you to visit it, especially as we come up on the one year anniversary of the launch of our business analytics initiative.

The AVC underscores a central tenet of Smarter Planet — how digital and physical worlds — databases and drydocks,  petabytes and powerplants — are weaving themselves together. Through it, people can extend their physical presence, voice and ideas to a new digital dimension that isn’t constrained by geography.

Simply Easy

The AVC is a web-based and voice-enabled collaboration complex that we built on the web.alive platform, which is now part of IBM partner Avaya’s portfolio. It features a simple set of intuitive controls, quick avatar customization and 3D spatial audio. Many of the hundreds of visitors have  found the environment easier to use than other virtual worlds. In fact, most people find themselves “in world” and talking naturally with others within minutes.

While the environment’s navigation and architecture are purposefully minimalist, the facility supports some sophisticated tools, including a full-function “web surface” that can display any web content, including video, animation and Web-based services such as writeboards. Additional wall surfaces can display presentations, documents, photos and graphics.

In addition to an auditorium and six meeting rooms that can be made private for confidential discussions, the AVC includes a rooftop “garden” with six kiosks for different displays, projects or topics.  We’re also using the rooftop for an “innovator in residence” program that is open to analytics-related projects or initiatives from academia, startups,  NGOs and other organizations seeking to innovate around analytics.

Of course, the AVC is also available for business development and client meetings. And we expect to also put it work as a vehicle for recruiting new talent to IBM, especially for people with expertise in various areas of analytics, simulation, predictive modeling and other aspects of “big data” innovation in areas including energy, smarter cities, healthcare and transportation.

To discuss or schedule a tour, meeting, event, the innovators-in-residence program or how you might like to work with us via the Analytics Virtual Center, we’ve set up a tool with the new Tungle.me appointment service.

You can also leave us a voicemail via Skype.

Smarter Healthcare Channel via GBS Video Studio

With healthcare reform taking centerstage in Washington in the weeks and months ahead, we wanted to share this section of clips in the IBM Global Business Services Video Studio, which debuted with the launch of IBM's new consulting organization, Business Analytics & Optimization.

Jack Mason, Strategic Programs & Social Media
IBM Global Business Services
http://smarterplanet.tumblr.com

Healthcare and the New Intelligence

The volume, variety and velocity of data in healthcare is a very good example of where our world needs "new intelligence." Such a new infrastructure would help us better manage and process medical records to lower the cost and increase the quality of healthcare, put more research and genetic data to work and shift from a system that treats disease to one that prevents and manages it.  Check out this video for an entertaining overview of what we mean by new intelligence.

And to see more on some of the healthcare implications for Smarter Planet -- new types of sensors and devices, new models such as evidence-based medicine and clincial decision support -- take a look at this "channel" of tagged posts on the Smarter Planet site on Tumblr  http://smarterplanet.tumblr.com/tagged/healthcare

Smarter Health and Medicine Via Systems Biology

Crucial breakthroughs in the treatment of many common diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's could be achieved by harnessing a powerful scientific approach called systems biology, according to leading scientists from across Europe. Systems biology is a rapidly advancing field that combines empirical, mathematical and computational techniques to gain understanding of complex biological and physiological phenomena. (via Key to future medical breakthroughs is systems biology)

Top 10 Ways DNA Technology Will Change Your Life

We're delighted to welcome Hsien as a HealthNex guest blogger this week, especially as she has started a new publication -- EyeOnDNA -- on a topic that IBM considers critical in the advancement of electronic healthcare: the increasingly important role of genomics and DNA in society, medicine and culture. (In fact, its so important to IBM that we created the first Genetics Privacy policy for a major global company, and is a partner in the Genographic Project.) Now the U.S. Congress is taking up the issue to ensure that the privacy of genetic information can be protected, even as it becomes a more central fact in modern life.

Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD, Biotech Consultant and Publisher of EyeOnDNA.com

The genome revolution is upon us. New reports of gene-disease associations pepper the news each day. DNA technology is advancing so fast there are rumors that sequencing a person's entire DNA sequence will eventually cost no more than $1,000. Are you ready to take advantage of all that DNA can offer? Here are top 10 ways DNA technology will change your life.

10. DNA makes you hip.
Pop culture references to DNA are rife. If you want to be "in," learn how to mention DNA in casual conversation. For some pointers, read my weekly series - In Your DNA.

9. DNA is an artistic influence.
DNA has inspired artists in many mediums, including knitters, quilters, sculptors, and painters . You can also have your DNA pattern made into home deco prints or your actual DNA embedded into necklaces. For other fun ideas, check out my list of cool things to do with your DNA.

8. DNA brings you closer to your family.
Genealogy is one of the most popular hobbies in the US. And to trace their family ancestry, more people are increasingly turning to genetic testing. Many companies will help amateur genealogists match their genetic sequence with others in the database so it's possible to find long lost cousins and other family members using nothing more than DNA. And, of course, paternity, maternity, and other family relationship tests can prove the bonds that bind.

7. DNA is a lucrative career choice.
Prospects for careers that involve DNA analysis are excellent. For anyone considering a career change or embarking on a new career, some of the jobs with most potential include laboratory technician, especially in forensic services, and genetic counselor.

6. DNA technology inspires other forms of useful tech.
As Jack mentioned in his post about nanotechnology, the concept of DNA and strands of DNA itself are being incorporated into a number of different medical devices, such as DNA sieves, nanoscale films made of DNA and water-soluble polymer, and DNA layers for coating organs to improve transplant success. The elegance of DNA and the way it functions is a neverending source of ideas.

5. Your DNA may soon be collected for government databases.
It probably comes as no surprise that the DNA profiles of criminals are stored in databases such as the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) maintained by the FBI. But did you know that in some states and countries, even those people who were not convicted and others who were only convicted of misdemeanors have their DNA samples taken and stored as well? New York State is now considering a proposal to collect DNA from people found guilty of crimes at the misdemeanor level or higher, all prisoners, all parolees, everyone on probation, and registered sex offendors. In the future, everyone's DNA may be collected for a variety of "good" reasons, such as to help with public health efforts, identification in case of missing persons, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. Quebec, Canada has already begun sampling DNA from the general population.

4. DNA may determine your eligibility for a job or insurance coverage.
Although the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) passed the House in April 2007, not all countries believe that employers and insurance companies should be prohibited from using genetic information to screen candidates. Police recruits in Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, and the UK may face DNA testing in the effort to stem corruption. I discuss other ways in which genetic information can "help" employers determine the most suitable applicant for the job at Eye on DNA.

3. You can put your DNA to work in the privacy of your own home.
The genetic testing market is becoming increasingly crowded as a growing number of companies provide direct-to-consumer DNA testing. This trend raised the alarms of the General Accounting Office (GAO) last summer especially in regards to nutrigenomics, a field that uses a person's DNA profile to determine the ideal diet and nutritional supplements. Other types of direct-to-consumer or at-home DNA tests include those used for tracing ancestry or genealogy. And there are also companies that provide medical genetic tests and genetic counseling. (Disclosure: I recently joined DNA Direct as a consultant.)

2. Because parents can preselect certain traits in their children using preimplanation genetic diagnosis and other DNA technology, our population demographics will also be changing.
There will never come a day when we can select our future children like fruit from the supermarket. (At least I hope not.) But, parents can already use preimplantation genetic screening (PGD) to select embryos that are free of the genes for diseases such as breast cancer, colon cancer, Down's syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and a whole shopping list of other genetic diseases. There is fear that parents are also able to select the gender of their children by using at-home gender prediction DNA tests as early as six weeks gestation.

1. DNA technology will make it possible for us to receive personalized medical care that's tailored for us.
The best part about the genome revolution will be the development of personalized medicine - the ability to select medical treatment specific to each individual based on his or her genetic predispositions. For example, there is tremendous waste, inaccuracy, and even danger involved in determine the dosages of some drugs, such as warfarin. A warfarin sensitivity DNA test is already available that tests for variations in the CYP2c9 and VKORC1 genes that determine a person's sensitivity to warfarin via metabolism and anticoagulation processes, respectively. Gene therapy is another goal of personalized medicine. Targeted treatment that focuses on a specific gene mutation could help prevent, alleviate, and even cure diseases.

As you can see from this top 10 list, DNA technology can and does affects our lives in almost every way. Most people's number one concern when it comes to DNA is privacy. People fear Big Brother and a world like the one depicted in Gattaca. When DNA sequencing becomes so cheap and easy to perform that we're all carrying DNA replicators in our pocket, it will be hard to stop anyone from grabbing a strand of hair or a used cup to do a little DNA testing of their own. On the other hand, once everyone understands that we all carry flawed DNA, perhaps it will cease to be a a subject of contention. Approached in a thoughtful way, DNA technology will make our generation and the ones following us healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Towards Molecular Medicine

I'm continuing to play catchup with some of the news IBM has been making in healthcare.....but here's an interresting report I just stumbled upon. JHM

Integrated information architecture helps researchers identify and understand the molecular basis of disease leading to more focused clinical research The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries have been buzzing with the promise of personalized medicine since the completion of the human genome project. Today, scientific and technological advances are beginning to fulfill that promise: a future in which an individual’s genetic makeup can be used to help tailor safer, more effective and cost-efficient treatments.

  The IBM Clinical Genomics solution enables more focused clinical research and targeted treatments (258KB)

Nanobusiness 2006: A Short Survey of Bio/Nano Innovation Companies

While nanotechnology may still sound like science fiction to some people, the field is booming, with major corporations, including General Electric, Motorola, Dupont, IBM Pfizer and even Proctor & Gamble deeply invovled in commercialization efforts.

There are also more than 1,500 startup companies pursuing different applications of nanotechnology around the globe, according to Lux Research, a leading tracker of the field. To those who still aren't quite sure what nanotech is, the definition I find most helpful is "the ability to build, manipulation and control matter at the extraordinary small scale of less than 100 nanometers, the size of a few thousand atoms."  At that tiny scale, matter takes on entirely new properties that offer opportunities in many fields, especially life sciences.

At least several hundred of the nanotech startups that have emerged in the last five years are focused on areas with implications for revolutionizing medicine, health care, genomics and related fronts in the years ahead.

Here's a quick survey of a few firms that will give you a sense of the dynamism and range of commercial innovation going on in bionanotechnology.

Nanoink, based outside Chicago, has developed a system for "writing" with molecules using a modifed atomic force microscope.  One of its big plays today is to apply an extraordinary small, encrypted security label directly onto pharmaceutical pills. The goal is to prevent counterfeiting and assure traceability of drugs at the level of individual pills.

Evident Technologies, headquartered near Albany, NY, produces "quantum dots" nanoparticles of a few thousand atoms that can be produced with precise optical properties that enable them to glow in different colors.  They have a variety of applications, and in life sciences they can help biotech and medical researchers study cellular structures such as proteins.

PsiVida, with offices in Perth, Australia and Boston, has developed nanoparticles of silicon structured with honeycombs that can absorb, for example, radioactive materials to kill liver tumors. The biodegradeable specks, currently in clinical trials, are injected directly into the tumor, but have a very limited range, so the treatment shouldn't harm healthy tissue. The same platform can be used to deliver controlled doses of drugs over very long time ranges, as much as a month. PsiVidia is also in the very small club, for now, of publically traded bionanotech companies.

Another on that short list is NuCryst Pharmaceuticals, which went public in December. NuCryst's core product is wound dressings and bandages embedded with nanoparticles of silver. At the nanoscale, silver kills germs and fights infections, speeding and improving healing, especially in stubborn chronic wounds and burns.

One of the most interesting, if early stage companies, in the intersection of biotech and nanotech is Cambrios. In fact, its not really a developer of life sciences, but rather draws on biotech, "directed evolution" and using biological tools to innovate electronics at the nanoscale. For more details on this  company's  fascinating work, see this story  in Chemical & Engineering News.

This list could go on and on, since there are so many fertile efforts to innovate in nanotechnology and biotech today.

Accelrys, for example, is arguably the leader in advanced computer modelling and simulation for nanotechnology development. They are also an IBM partner.

While this short list is the tip of the iceberg, I'll leave you from one bit of wisdom from Horst Stormer, Nobel laureate, Columbia University physics professor an co-director of Columbia's National Science Foundation-funded nanocenter.

His presentation concluded that the central challenge (and key to understanding the emerging field of nanotechnology) is the idea of molecular self-assembly.

We are learning, at the nexus of chemistry, biology and physics, to coax atoms and molecules to organize themselves in intricate and valuable new patterns.

And while the societal benefits and impact of nanotech will unfold, gradually in the short term, and more markedly over the coming decade, humans are within reach of a major new milestone: our ability to precisely process matter at the building block level of atoms and molecules.

Jack Mason, IBM Strategic Communications, HealthNex Producer

IBM HealthNex life sciences nanoparticles nanotechnology synthetic biology innovation convergence convergence

Live From Nanobusiness 2006: Synthetic Genomics and the "Triple Helix"

Over lunch at Nanobusiness 2006, Steve Jurvetson, VC pioneer in nanotech at Draper, Fisher Jurvetson, really hit the "triple helix" of innovation (what I call the convergence of  infotech, nanotech and biotech) on the head.

Jurvetson's company has invested in some of the most promising nanotech companies, in areas as diverse as molecular memory (ZettaCore) to low-cost, plastic based solar material (Konarka). But he focused his remarks on an area right up my (and, I trust, IBM's) alley... the boundless frontier where IT meets biology: in particular, the emerging ability to design and build useful new, sythentic cells, created from scratch from customized DNA.

Scientists have already built simple virus and other structures from the "bottom" up by assembling the organism's DNA letter by letter.  But Jurvetson was talking about being able to draw on a vast DNA database to build customized biomachines engineered to produce energy, clean up toxins or pollution and solve other commercial challenges.

Such "life software" is becoming increasingly plausible, especially in the wake (pun intended) of the round the world voyage by Craig Venter (of the Human Genome project fame) to harvest and sequence the staggering diversity of genomes in marine microorganisms, bacteria and viruses.

Venter's new company, Synthetic Genomics, aims to enable the production of such biomemetic (nature imitating), self-assembling cellular factories.  One of the first goals is to produce an artificial chromosome engineered to produce hydrogen or ethanol, in ways similar to how living plants turn sunlight into energy by photosynthesis.

This work epitomizes the ways in which lab sciences, such as biology and chemistry, have blurred into information sciences, and how nanotechnology points to a future in which matter will be turned into code, and code into matter.

So here's my epiphany: IBM has enormous skills and decades of expertise innovating information technology.  In the last fifteen years, it has developed deep knowledge and a growing portfolio of IP in various areas of nanotechnology.  And in only the last five years, IBM has become deeply involved in advancing life sciences and healthcare, one of its most dynamic areas of growth. We have the assets to build the triple helix at hand.

I believe IBM must now find a way to more fully integrate these three strands of opportunity to serve the "mega-innovation"  that experts see at the crossroads of info, nano and bio. Moreover, it must find a way to become a global enabler of the ecosystem for this triple helix. Perhaps this mammoth objective could be advanced through a new consulting practice, cross-disciplinary group in Research, or the development of an entirely new set of services or solutions.

Of course, I'm sure that many of my colleagues throughout IBM, who represent the full spectrum of business and technology experts, almost certainly agree that IBM should marshall its resources at this inflection point (and technological convergence) to accelerate these advances. For all I know, such a sweeping initiative may already be on someone's drawing board.

Moreover, such a moonshot would demand the collaboration of many other institutions, companies, universities and governments, and have a global reach.

How could IBMers spark and support such a cross-disciplinary, open, global and collaborative business initiative to integrate IT, nano and bio?  How could your external input and insight catalyze such a world-changing meta project to leap from this page to a worldwide reality?

The field is wide open, and so is my interest in hearing your thoughts.

Jack Mason, IBM Strategic Communications, HealthNex Producer

IBM HealthNex life sciences nanoparticles nanotechnology synthetic biology innovation convergence convergence

Open Source Biotech Innovation & Beyond

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  Originally uploaded by jaxster2k.

Jack Mason, IBM Strategic Communications, HealthNex Producer

The need for "openness" in healthcare transformation is readily apparent.  We need the kinds of open technology standards that will make electronic records, applications and other elements of an ehealth infrastructure plug together.

Indeed, the nature of high-level societal innovation is more "open" than ever before, depending upon alliances, cooperation, integration and the like.

Of course, academic science has been a sort of open-source knowledge system for centuries. Discoveries, theories and new ideas were widely shared, debated and otherwise distributed and process by a social network.

One thread of development that I find interesting is where open models, like the open source one that has spawned so many software innovations, is intersecting with the traditional open culture of science.

My thinking got kicked off by coming across some blog link--sorry I can't retrace how I stumbled on it--on a cover story in  Genomics and Proteomics magazine on Open Source Bioinformatics.

That in turn reminded me of a group I had come across last year called BiOS - Biological Innovation for Open Society. This group is "adapting licensing and distributive collaboration aspects of the open source movement to enhance transparency, accessibility and capability to use patented technology, public domain science, life sciences know-how and materials."

Further surfing lead me to an April article in Red Herring on Open Source Biotech.

And that in turn, by some roundabout searching, brought me to a ongish essay called Open the Future by Jamie Cascio on the broader nature and implications of openness.

All of these mentions are really just prelude to a question: openness seems like an almost inevitable evolution of human intelligence.  But as natural (and desirable) as it seems, there seems to be a strain in human nature that also resists or distrusts this paradigm shift. Some people seem to think this massive trend is somehow in opposition to commerce or wealth creation, that there has to be some cost or lost value associated with open technology, innovation systems, etc.

Why is that? What are the downsides, if any, to the open model in areas such as healthcare, biotech or other frontiers of global urgency? What are the limitations to extending the open source model to other sectors of society?

Our comment lines are now ... open ; )

IBM HealthNex Open Bioinformatics Standards Open Source

Unlocking the Molecular Mysteries of Disease

Brett J. Davis, Global Solutions Executive, Healthcare
IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences

Why do many experts believe we stand at the verge of a profound transformation in healthcare and life sciences? One of the central reasons is that over the last decades, both disciplines have become information-based sciences.

More important, these disciplines are now becoming globally-networked, data-driven sciences.

In the life sciences, we now have the fundamental building blocks to understand disease at the molecular level - genomics, proteomics, etc. In clinical care, we are increasingly capturing more data that can help change how medicine is practiced, in every dimension. All of these information systems will become more powerful as we move towards the President’s vision of a richly connected, national health information infrastructure.

Just as the Web redefined the power of individual computers and small, local-area networks, wiring healthcare and life sciences into a fully interoperable network will enable many aspects of these already information-intensive disciplines to achieve profound new breakthroughs: new ways for medicines to be discovered and tested, and new abilities for doctors and hospitals to provide patients with care personalized to their individual biologies and genetic profiles.

(With respect to the this last point, I'm proud to be IBM's representative on the Personalized Medicine Coalition's board of directors.)

As the community continues to invest in standards-based, information systems to capture, annotate, integrate and share this wealth of information, we are approaching a tipping point where molecular medicine can fundamentally change healthcare - not just through new treatments and interventions - but also by creating disruptive business models and reconfiguring the economics of healthcare. 

In my group at IBM, we've focused a lot of attention in recent years on biobanking - not because we think collecting biospecimens is in itself particularly important, but because biobanks create the infrastructure for collecting well-annotated clinical information. They also provide the biological materials for generating the molecular information we need to unlock the mysteries of disease.

In fact we recently teamed with FasterCures and other leaders in the field to launch BiobankCentral, a portal to bring the international biobanking community together to share best practices as well as educate the public on the importance of biobanks to advance clinical research. 

Perhaps no disease area is poised to benefit from biobanks - and the information they produce - than cancer.  The leadership at the National Cancer Institute has recognized this as a recent article entitled Banking on Tissues in AACR's new publication CR. 

I hope you'll visit BioBank Central, and share some of your thoughts here on the promise and opportunties in biobanking and personalized medicine.

IBM HealthNex Biobanking Personalized Medicine