Despite personalized medicine potential, distrust lingers over Googles genome play

Googles push into the genome storage and research market seems like a natural move to make personalized medicine a mainstream treatment option. And the price for storing genomic data has plummeted to a consumer friendly $25 per month. But comments in response to a recent article from MIT Technology Review illustrate the mixed feelings we have about the potential benefits and potential for abuse these businesses pose.

So far 3,500 genomes are stored on Googles servers, according to the article. David Glazer, the software engineer who led the development of Google Genome, also led platform engineering for Google+.

Google has developed an interface for its genome business that lets it move DNA data into its servers and do experiments using the same database technology that indexes the Web and tracks billions of Internet users, according to the article. We saw biologists moving from studying one genome at a time to studying millions, Glazer told MIT Technology Review. The opportunity is how to apply breakthroughs in data technology to help with this transition.

Other groups are taking different approaches to storing DNA and research. StoreMyTumor holds onto customers tumors that have been removed in surgery so they can be screened to gain admittance into clinical trials as well as determining their best cancer treatment options. Though the global directory of biobank and tissue bank websites on Speciman Central illustrates is extensive, most of these are run by institutes and educational institutions, not corporations. Some of the comments left on the article suggest Google has a lot to prove to ease peoples instinct to distrust what a company will do with this sensitive data.

Here are some of the comments:

Xomami 1 day ago With extremely low sequencing costs almost anyone may have access to your genome. In fact, your full genome is not even necessary. Just the critical parts detailing the major diseases susceptibilities (think 23andme profile) are good enough for a health insurer. After a stay in a hotel, a piece of hair, some dander, the tiny saliva left on a glass will be enough for getting a good genetic profile. In fact, it is said the US president has a DNA cleanup crew everywhere he goes now; they pick up bedsheets, pillowcases, glasses, everythingWonder what he has to hide 🙂

abraham.samma 2 days ago Putting aside the assertions made by geoffrey and darrend below, I think their overall sentiment can be aptly summarised in one word; distrust. It is a sentiment that resonates with everyone I think. The genome is about as personal as you can get wrt to the patients medical profile. I dare say we need to be more serious about how this kind of information can be abused and research better ways to ensure data integrity and security. Atleast, more serious than how we currently manage other corporate entities like banks.

canoeberry 2 days ago For profit companies and private medical data do not mix unless there are serious standards put in place, and serious repercussions if they are violated. And even then Id be worried with a company like Google, whose business is to sell as much about us as they know to advertisers. However, I have NO DOUBT that putting together a bunch of genomes in a machine learning world could be and will be a revolutionary way to advance medicine. Incredibly hard to do now but every year hardware gets better and we could definitely learn a lot from doing number crunching on large numbers of genomes

RJWilton 2 days ago Dont kid yourselves, people. Theres always a few visionaries out there touting the potential of aggregating your personal information. (Gee. Personalized pop-up advertising. How nice.) But ask yourselves: wheres the big money in this picture? Answer: Marketing. (Dear Google, please send us a list of everybody whose genome says theyre likely to want what were selling.) Health insurance. (What passes as a pre-existing condition is nothing compared to what can be harvested from your genome.) Big pharma. (What do the genomes tell us about the next big drug?) And so on. And, given the frequency with which even the easiest stuff to protect (think credit card numbers) gets hacked into the dark Internet, just how eager are you to post your genome online? Google ought to be paying us, not the other way around. And indemnifying us, too, while theyre at it. And Id still be awfully reluctant

mkogrady 2 days ago @RJWilton If the big picture is marketing, and the results of targeted marketing means (I hope) cheaper medications for that specific target audience, then wheres the harm? If a pharmaceutical company sees the potential to invest a couple million dollars on a treatment that will be needed by 10 million people, and the end cost is cheaper BECAUSE they know beforehand what the potential target market is, then I say thats a good thing.

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Despite personalized medicine potential, distrust lingers over Googles genome play