The 21st century has ushered in a new age where all aspects of our lives are impacted by technology. How will humanity anticipate, mitigate, and manage the consequences of AI, robots, quantum computing and more? How do we ensure tech works for the good of all? This Ashoka series sheds light on the wisdom and ideas of leaders in the field.
Dr. Stephen Friend is a globally acclaimed serial entrepreneur and biomedical researcher. He currently is the President and co-founder of 4YouandMe, a visiting Professor of Connected Medicine at Oxford University and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sage Bionetworks, where he was co-founder and President. He previously held positions at Apple, was Senior Vice President at Merck & Co, founded and led Rosetta Impharmatics, and was an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2011. Before venturing into medicine and cancer research, he studied anthropology and philosophy.
Konstanze Frischen (Ashoka): Stephen, how can AI help us live healthier?
Stephen Friend: It’s simple: Wearable devices – rings or watches that register heartbeat and all kinds of other physiological data – today can allow individuals to follow themselves. But the potential is bigger: What we are betting on is that we can use AI and machine learning to analyze these data in ways that better track stress and individual symptoms so we can forecast the onset or worsening of chronic diseases like migraines, MS, Crohn’s disease, or even vulnerable times of metamorphosis, like pregnancy or menopause.
KF: And what are you learning?
SF: We are learning how to collect multidimensional, longitudinal data on chronic illnesses – and the results are remarkably strong. An individual’s physiological data – variable heart rate, breathing patterns, skin tone, and much more – yield patterns that correlate with flares of symptoms. And we are setting up studies to test if the more centered a person is in themselves, the lesser the degree of their illness. Conversely, we can see that stress is a breeding ground for symptoms.
KF: So, the data generated by wearables show that our states of mind like stress or wellbeing are underpinned by physiological markers that correspond to diseases?
SF: Yes, this is what we expect to verify. The signals are numerous, and in unison. The body has a way of responding to stress that changes your voice, blood pressure, sleep, what’s going on in your pancreas, your sweat and so on. And the ability to pick these data sets up and stick all of them together, means we can get a pretty good idea of how someone is doing and can start to make individual forecasts for a patient when a disease is likely to start or flare up.
Image Credit: New York Times
News This Week
This Viral RNA Structure Could Lead to a Universal Antiviral Drug
Researchers identify a shared RNA-protein interaction that could lead to broad-spectrum antiviral treatments for enteroviruses. A new study from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), published in Nature Communications, explains how enteroviruses begin reproducing [...]
New study suggests a way to rejuvenate the immune system
Stimulating the liver to produce some of the signals of the thymus can reverse age-related declines in T-cell populations and enhance response to vaccination. As people age, their immune system function declines. T cell [...]
Nerve Damage Can Disrupt Immunity Across the Entire Body
A single nerve injury can quietly reshape the immune system across the entire body. Preclinical research from McGill University suggests that nerve injuries may lead to long-lasting changes in the immune system, and these [...]
Fake Science Is Growing Faster Than Legitimate Research, New Study Warns
New research reveals organized networks linking paper mills, intermediaries, and compromised academic journals Organized scientific fraud is becoming increasingly common, ranging from fabricated research to the buying and selling of authorship and citations, according [...]
Scientists Unlock a New Way to Hear the Brain’s Hidden Language
Scientists can finally hear the brain’s quietest messages—unlocking the hidden code behind how neurons think, decide, and remember. Scientists have created a new protein that can capture the incoming chemical signals received by brain [...]
Does being infected or vaccinated first influence COVID-19 immunity?
A new study analyzing the immune response to COVID-19 in a Catalan cohort of health workers sheds light on an important question: does it matter whether a person was first infected or first vaccinated? [...]
We May Never Know if AI Is Conscious, Says Cambridge Philosopher
As claims about conscious AI grow louder, a Cambridge philosopher argues that we lack the evidence to know whether machines can truly be conscious, let alone morally significant. A philosopher at the University of [...]
AI Helped Scientists Stop a Virus With One Tiny Change
Using AI, researchers identified one tiny molecular interaction that viruses need to infect cells. Disrupting it stopped the virus before infection could begin. Washington State University scientists have uncovered a method to interfere with a key [...]
Deadly Hospital Fungus May Finally Have a Weakness
A deadly, drug-resistant hospital fungus may finally have a weakness—and scientists think they’ve found it. Researchers have identified a genetic process that could open the door to new treatments for a dangerous fungal infection [...]
Fever-Proof Bird Flu Variant Could Fuel the Next Pandemic
Bird flu viruses present a significant risk to humans because they can continue replicating at temperatures higher than a typical fever. Fever is one of the body’s main tools for slowing or stopping viral [...]
What could the future of nanoscience look like?
Society has a lot to thank for nanoscience. From improved health monitoring to reducing the size of electronics, scientists’ ability to delve deeper and better understand chemistry at the nanoscale has opened up numerous [...]
Scientists Melt Cancer’s Hidden “Power Hubs” and Stop Tumor Growth
Researchers discovered that in a rare kidney cancer, RNA builds droplet-like hubs that act as growth control centers inside tumor cells. By engineering a molecular switch to dissolve these hubs, they were able to halt cancer [...]
Platelet-inspired nanoparticles could improve treatment of inflammatory diseases
Scientists have developed platelet-inspired nanoparticles that deliver anti-inflammatory drugs directly to brain-computer interface implants, doubling their effectiveness. Scientists have found a way to improve the performance of brain-computer interface (BCI) electrodes by delivering anti-inflammatory drugs directly [...]
After 150 years, a new chapter in cancer therapy is finally beginning
For decades, researchers have been looking for ways to destroy cancer cells in a targeted manner without further weakening the body. But for many patients whose immune system is severely impaired by chemotherapy or radiation, [...]
Older chemical libraries show promise for fighting resistant strains of COVID-19 virus
SARS‑CoV‑2, the virus that causes COVID-19, continues to mutate, with some newer strains becoming less responsive to current antiviral treatments like Paxlovid. Now, University of California San Diego scientists and an international team of [...]
Lower doses of immunotherapy for skin cancer give better results, study suggests
According to a new study, lower doses of approved immunotherapy for malignant melanoma can give better results against tumors, while reducing side effects. This is reported by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in the Journal of the National [...]
Leave A Comment