The hunt for "unexpected genetic heroes"
1,051,396 views | Stephen Friend • TED2014
What can we learn from people with the genetics to get sick — who don't? With most inherited diseases, only some family members will develop the disease, while others who carry the same genetic risks dodge it. Stephen Friend suggests we start studying those family members who stay healthy. Hear about the Resilience Project, a massive effort to collect genetic materials that may help decode inherited disorders.
What can we learn from people with the genetics to get sick — who don't? With most inherited diseases, only some family members will develop the disease, while others who carry the same genetic risks dodge it. Stephen Friend suggests we start studying those family members who stay healthy. Hear about the Resilience Project, a massive effort to collect genetic materials that may help decode inherited disorders.
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About the speaker
Inspired by open-source software models, Sage Bionetworks co-founder Stephen Friend builds tools that facilitate research sharing on a massive and revolutionary scale.
Stephen Friend and Eric E. Schadt | Science, May 30, 2014 | Article
Clues from the resilient
An in-depth description of The Resilience Project and how genetic information from individuals who do not succumb to disease may point to new therapies and definitions of wellness.
Stephen Friend and Thea C. Norman | Nature Biotechnology, 2013 | Article
Metcalfe's law and the biology information commons
This lays out an alternative approach to current siloed publications. I suggest collaborative sharing of insights by researchers will be critical to solving biomedicine's complex problems.
Jocelyn Kaiser | Science, February 10, 2012 | Article
The Visionary
This overview lays out the fundamental importance of sharing both data and ideas to accelerate drug discovery.
Leroy Hood and Stephen Friend | Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, March 2011 | Article
Predictive, personalized, preventive, participatory (P4) cancer medicine
A description of the power of engaging the public directly in sharing their data and participating in clinical trials on themselves.
Stephen Friend | The Scientist, September 1, 2010 | Article
Crowdsourcing Drug Discovery
An article about an alternative way to discover new therapies without the current obsessive focus on intellectual property on early compounds and targets.
Falling Walls 2013 | Watch
Stephen Friend: Breaking the wall to cooperative medicine
I explain my strategy to inspire a cultural shift in how research is being done, going from a siloed approach to an open system where people begin to think of each other as colleagues and collaborators instead of competitors.
Broad Institute 2013 | Watch
John Wilbanks: People should control their health data
What if people could control their medical data and be free to pool it or share it? Would it lead to a wave of health care innovation?
TEDxMaastricht 2012 | Watch
Stephen Friend: Break down the information walls
Where is the vitriolic anger over closed medical information? New technologies allow us to understand biology circuits and networks like never before. Let’s move to a world where we can share information in order to build contour maps of diseases.
Strata Rx 2012 | Watch
Stephen Friend: Dreaming of tenure and IPOs while patients suffer
I discuss the need for an 'Information Commons' for data, tools and knowledge. I describe a world of open science, where building off of each other's work can be rewarded, and show how challenges and open competitions lead to sharing.
TEDxPugetSound 2011 | Watch
Stephen Friend: True crowdsourcing of medicine: Activating all of us
'Who will build the disease models soon capable of providing the powerful insights to cure patients?' I argue for the need to break the circuit of rewards in the medical industrial complex in order to progress and benefit patients.
TEDGlobal 2012 | Watch
John Wilbanks: Let's pool our medical data
John Wilbanks wonders if the desire to protect our privacy is slowing research.
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
Sign up for the Resilience Project waiting list.