Baseline Study
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Baseline Study is a medical and genomics project organized by Google, Inc. that aims to map a healthy human body. It was announced in the Wall Street Journal on July 24, 2014. It will begin by collecting data from 175 individuals anonymously, and plans to collect it from thousands more in its later stages. The project is run by Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist at Google X, and employs between 70 and 100 experts from widely varying scientific fields.[1] The project is not the first one to aim to collect data on many individuals for medical purposes, but it aims to collect a much larger amount of data covering a broader array of topics than its predecessors.[1]
Purpose
The project's stated purpose is to enable doctors to predict the onset of diseases such as cancer and heart disease far earlier than is currently possible. The project's organizers hope this will move medicine toward an era centered on prevention rather than treatment.[2] The study also aims to identify biomarkers that make certain people more or less susceptible to various diseases.[1]
Methodology
The project began in the summer of 2014, when Google began recruiting volunteers to collect bodily fluids such as urine, blood, saliva and tears for a pilot study. Conrad and his team will then analyze this data and design a much larger study in conjunction with Duke's and Stanford's medical schools,[1] whose institutional review boards will also monitor the study and make sure the data from it is not misused, according to Google. Google also stated that all the data in the study would be anonymized before they would have access to it.[3]
