A new smart phone game that gets players to sift through vast amounts of Cancer Research data for fun aims to discover new treatments and ultimately cures for different cancer types.
Cancer Research UK is in the process of developing a brand new mobile game called GeneGame that helps analyse “terabytes upon petabytes of genetic data” in the hope of pointing to potential treatments for cancer. The immense amount of records dates back to as early as the 70s, which could contain vital pieces of information in the fight against one of the UK’s biggest killers.
The idea of the game came about because according to experts, humans are superior in analysing visual data of this type in comparison to algorithms.
This isn’t the first time Cancer Research have enlisted citizens rather than scientists to analyse cells. Using a website called Cell Slider, those who are eager to donate their time to the charity can classify variations in gene data in a range of breast cancer samples. According to the site, the public has analysed more than 1.6 million classifications over the last three months, which would have taken scientists as many as eighteen.
Scottish games developer Guerrilla Tea have undertaken the challenge in making this data classifying exercise fun and exciting for players. Players only have to spend a couple of minutes on GeneGame and they will already make a difference in the ongoing battle against cancer.
According to statistics released last week by comScore mobile games have become just as popular as photo messaging, and nearly as widely searched for as the weather and the news. In the countrywide battle against cancer, using such a popular platform to engage with the nation can only be a guaranteed success.
