A team of UA researchers is sifting through thousands of research papers to improve treatment for cancer patients, one algorithm at a time.
Clayton Morrison is an associate professor in the University of Arizona's School of Information. He is trying to find out how to actually read hundreds of thousands of scientific papers and apply their findings to real challenges. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency found a project called "REACH" which will create a computer system to read article, extracts information on biochemical pathways, and plugs it all into large-scale, interactive models.
Morrison said although the REACH project is applied to cancer biology, but they have an even bigger vision that that. He divided big data into two part. The first one is storing it and moving it around, and the next part is understanding is. Morrison and his team do a lot to improve this project. And now the REACH know how to read, and it should be able to make inferences. In other words, it will hypothesize much as a scientist or a doctor might.