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Open Source Medicine
http://groups.google.com/group/opensourcemedicine/web/project-ideas?hl&pli=1
Project Ideas
1. Open source diagnostic microarrays.
A massively collaborative diagnostic chip -- an unprecedented photolithographed oligonucleotide
microarray, with probes that can rapidly diagnose any known pathogen, cancer, or genetic disorder. If we
had enough users, we could create a chip (or series of chips) that could diagnose almost anything
(including calculating future risks of cancer, etc) within 48 hours, for less than $1000 per chip (probably
significantly less than $1000, with prices falling every year). We'd build the database and pipeline, and
design the probes; printing the chips is the easy part.
2. Open source diagnostic software.
Virtual doctors for those who don't have access to them. Ways to double-check what your own doctor is
telling you. Web MD on crack.
3. Open hardware design of cheap medical equipment for developing nations (or just in case you want to
have medical supplies on hand).
Scalable, DIY, rapid-replication type equipment for diagnostics and treatment. Scalable, DIY,
rapid-replication equipment for DIYbio-style laboratory equipment, for open source medical research.
4. The organization and identification of software niches that need to be filled.
Here we could to contribute to the toolkits available for scientific and medical research. You may be
familiar with BioPerl or BioPython, or open source programs such as Genesis or Neuron. It would be
useful to all of us to create a map, probably by subject area (e.g. genomics, computational
neuroscience), to learn about and contribute to current open source science software.
5. Strong collaboration in DIYbio/synthetic biology.
The DIYbio mailing list is somewhat chaotic, and new forums are in the process of being created. We can
help them out by contributing our knowledge and helping the forums organize. When the dust settles, it
would be nice to have something we can all use. (See: http://www.diybioforum.org/forum/index.php,
http://www.diybio.org)
6. Massively-peer reviewed research journals. Alternatives to the current peer review.
The current peer-review process faces harsh criticism, and fradulent or sloppy science goes unchecked
for far too long. If we subjected scientific publications to a huge user base, where the users could
comment and make suggestions/corrections/analyses of the research, we might be onto something.
7. Work on the legal standing of genome patents -- a copyleft for genetic code.
Computer code is authored, and therefore copyrightable, but not patentable. Genetic code is produced,
and therefore patentable, but not copyrightable. For this reason, there is no copyleft framework available
for code written in DNA. We should correct this problem.
8. Open source drug discovery software.
Let's see what's out there. Let's see what we can develop. The idea of open source communities holding
pharmaceutical patents intrigues me. We could pay for server space, at least ;-)
9. Straightforward analysis of medical statistics.
How many patients die because of medical errors every year? How can we help everyone become
informed enough to prevent them? What are the most commonly misdiagnosed problems? How can we
condense important information into practical lessons?
Next
http://groups.google.com/group/opensourcemedicine/web/project-ideas?hl&pli=1
Project Ideas
1. Open source diagnostic microarrays.
A massively collaborative diagnostic chip -- an unprecedented photolithographed oligonucleotide
microarray, with probes that can rapidly diagnose any known pathogen, cancer, or genetic disorder. If we
had enough users, we could create a chip (or series of chips) that could diagnose almost anything
(including calculating future risks of cancer, etc) within 48 hours, for less than $1000 per chip (probably
significantly less than $1000, with prices falling every year). We'd build the database and pipeline, and
design the probes; printing the chips is the easy part.
2. Open source diagnostic software.
Virtual doctors for those who don't have access to them. Ways to double-check what your own doctor is
telling you. Web MD on crack.
3. Open hardware design of cheap medical equipment for developing nations (or just in case you want to
have medical supplies on hand).
Scalable, DIY, rapid-replication type equipment for diagnostics and treatment. Scalable, DIY,
rapid-replication equipment for DIYbio-style laboratory equipment, for open source medical research.
4. The organization and identification of software niches that need to be filled.
Here we could to contribute to the toolkits available for scientific and medical research. You may be
familiar with BioPerl or BioPython, or open source programs such as Genesis or Neuron. It would be
useful to all of us to create a map, probably by subject area (e.g. genomics, computational
neuroscience), to learn about and contribute to current open source science software.
5. Strong collaboration in DIYbio/synthetic biology.
The DIYbio mailing list is somewhat chaotic, and new forums are in the process of being created. We can
help them out by contributing our knowledge and helping the forums organize. When the dust settles, it
would be nice to have something we can all use. (See: http://www.diybioforum.org/forum/index.php,
http://www.diybio.org)
6. Massively-peer reviewed research journals. Alternatives to the current peer review.
The current peer-review process faces harsh criticism, and fradulent or sloppy science goes unchecked
for far too long. If we subjected scientific publications to a huge user base, where the users could
comment and make suggestions/corrections/analyses of the research, we might be onto something.
7. Work on the legal standing of genome patents -- a copyleft for genetic code.
Computer code is authored, and therefore copyrightable, but not patentable. Genetic code is produced,
and therefore patentable, but not copyrightable. For this reason, there is no copyleft framework available
for code written in DNA. We should correct this problem.
8. Open source drug discovery software.
Let's see what's out there. Let's see what we can develop. The idea of open source communities holding
pharmaceutical patents intrigues me. We could pay for server space, at least ;-)
9. Straightforward analysis of medical statistics.
How many patients die because of medical errors every year? How can we help everyone become
informed enough to prevent them? What are the most commonly misdiagnosed problems? How can we
condense important information into practical lessons?
Next
The Concebot Medical Index