The number of people who have been killed by cardiovascular disease each year exceeds 1.7 million, ranking first in the world and growing. More than 40% of them are coronary heart disease. At present, there are already treatment and prevention measures in medicine, but the pathogenesis and cure methods are still unknown. Now, Google is determined to spend $50 million to change the status quo. The company has always been quick and breaking the rules. Maybe you have already started looking forward to this Silicon Valley giant, although this method has not produced much in basic scientific research.
But Google is not just spending money. This month, in Orlando, Florida, the American Heart Association held a conference. At the conference's launch, Google Life Sciences and the American Heart Association said the money would allow a team to operate for five years. This is a Manhattan-planned project, or, as Google claims, a moon landing plan.
Traditional research funding models are often gradual and fragmented, making it difficult to study a long-term, wide-ranging project. Andrew Conrad, CEO of the Google Life Sciences team, said in a statement, "AHA and Google Life Sciences have adopted a bold new approach."
The moon landing program was a success, humans boarded the moon, and the researchers were great. But scientific research has a gradual, layered process. Money cannot overcome 100% of the difficulties in scientific research. However, this is indeed a big sum of money.
Science fund hesitation
In the study of cardiovascular disease, AHA is the largest funder in addition to the federal government. They believe that the project is the most generous funding for nearly a century. The test will be conducted in January next year. If everything goes well, the task can be ended on February 14th (Valentine's Day). If you want this $50 million, your ideas must be viable. Google will not ask for economic requirements or patents for your results.
Conrad imagines that this project can accelerate the advancement and development of the heart research field, just as Google's driverless cars lead the development of the entire automotive industry. David Kaiser, a physicist and science historian at MIT, said this collaboration was common in the past. He cited examples from Bell Labs, Westinghouse and General Electric. He said: "These companies not only have their own laboratories, but also funded scientific research in universities, which ultimately not only improved their products, but also enabled the development of basic science."
Researchers have relied on the federal government to obtain research funding, but examples of setbacks abound. Most of the government's bonuses are around $250,000 a year, and they require continuous writing. A recent article in the New York Times reported that research in the field of heart disease has often been rejected because of their narrow scope of application.
Gregory Graf, a researcher at the University of Kentucky's Sakha Cardiovascular Research Center, says even federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which traditionally fund life science research, often hesitate to fund models. NIH spends $1.2 billion a year on heart disease research, spending $432 million on cardiovascular disease alone, and has paid out a million dollar program, or "project award."
They will fund three or four or six researchers who can use the core equipment and collaborate with other scientific teams through laboratory facilities, Graf said. But now NIH has begun to abolish this practice because it is thought to waste a lot of money, but it can't improve efficiency. In addition, Graf also pointed out that a small share of the bonus means that NIH can support more researchers at the same time.
At the same time, Google’s venture fund may have spent the right place. They used a method similar to Manhattan engineering. So is the field of heart disease research ready? Researchers have a way to detect the genome so that the effects of opening and closing of the expressed gene can be observed. “Until recently we had accurate detection methods,†Gray said.
The cost of testing is also falling. "We live in a big data era, but we don't have the right tools to take advantage of it." This is exactly where Google is best at and most interested.
It is not known whether Google’s money will eventually cure coronary heart disease, but it is almost certain that it will promote progress in this area. $50 million is a big number, but the disease is also very tricky.
YT-68
YT-68
Shenzhen Sunshine Technology Co.,Ltd , https://www.yatwinsz.com