Biomedical researchers are using novel methods to monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapies. The blue, green and yellow stripes show DNA sequencing results. (Photograph: University of Zurich / Frank Brüderli)
Biomedical researchers are using novel methods to monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapies. The blue, green and yellow stripes show DNA sequencing results. (Photograph: University of Zurich / Frank Brüderli) The LOOP Zurich research centre is creating a central platform for the exchange of health data between the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and the four university hospitals. This will allow data to be utilised quickly and easily to the benefit of patients. When a patient is in intensive care, there are numerous instruments to monitor their state of health. There might be periodic MRIs, or laboratory analysis of blood samples going on in the background. All of this work is aimed at delivering the best possible treatment. In the process, some 20 MB of data are accumulated per ICU patient per day. In special situations there might be as much as 100 GB - roughly equivalent to the file size of a one-hour movie. If patients authorise the use of this data for medical research, it can give rise to interesting opportunities - because the analysis of large volumes of data in particular can help us detect patterns that reveal how diseases develop and which treatments are effective. Increasingly, this analysis is carried out using artificial intelligence (AI) methods, which lay the foundation for personalised treatment - that is, treatment tailored to the individual. "Large volumes of data are an important basis for precision medicine," says Beatrice Beck Schimmer, Vice President Medicine Zurich UMZH. More data, more knowledge. Is this wealth of data actually being put to use?
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