"... At the Mayo Clinic’s Transform symposium this month in Rochester, Minn., I heard Eric Dishman, a general manager at Intel, explain how he had used data to individualize his own cancer care. More than a decade ago, when he was only partly responding to chemotherapy for a rare kidney cancer, he used a step monitor to help figure out what provoked his pain and then worked with a physical therapist to treat it. More recently, scientists were able to analyze the genetic sequence of his tumor, identifying a medicine for treatment. He is now cancer free..."
If you find the work in cancer interesting, it's worth looking into a few commercial outfits that are doing this type of testing:
* Genomic Health ($GHDX) with OncotypeDX
* Foundation Medicine ($FMI) with FoundationOne
Both of these companies have tests on the market that analyze tumor genomes (sequencing or microarray-based) and provide information to oncologists to better treat their patients. Information like drug efficacy and tumor aggressiveness (requiring chemo-/radiotherapy).
"... At the Mayo Clinic’s Transform symposium this month in Rochester, Minn., I heard Eric Dishman, a general manager at Intel, explain how he had used data to individualize his own cancer care. More than a decade ago, when he was only partly responding to chemotherapy for a rare kidney cancer, he used a step monitor to help figure out what provoked his pain and then worked with a physical therapist to treat it. More recently, scientists were able to analyze the genetic sequence of his tumor, identifying a medicine for treatment. He is now cancer free..."