Can AI and Genomics help humans understand ourselves better?

Can AI and Genomics help humans understand ourselves better?

AI and genomics are converging. (Image Credit: Bing Image Creator).

New Delhi: While generative AI may be getting all the attention now, the field of medicine has a long history of using cutting edge technologies to improve patient care and outcomes. The most advanced models and machine learning algorithms in the world, that have demonstrated their reliability in real-world applications, is in the field of diagnostics. In the 1970s itself, software such as Mycin had been used, a rule-based expert system that could identify bacteria causing infections and recommend the appropriate antibiotics to guide doctors.

Now, artificial intelligence algorithms have grown sophisticated enough to analyse medical data such as images, lab results and patient history to aid in medical diagnosis. These technologies have improved accuracy, reduced diagnostic errors and in general improved the outcomes for patients. The image recognition algorithms are very proficient at spotting tumours or ulcers that are overlooked by human technicians in medical images of patients.

Head of Scientific Affairs at Metropolis Healthcare, Dr Vishal Wadhwa says, “Over the past few decades, inventors, innovators, and technocrats have been trying to influence the workflows, diagnostic technology and outreach in the diagnostic sector with aim to improve efficiency, connectivity and provide better scientific solutions in patient care.”

How the COVID-19 pandemic boosted technology integration in medicine

The reason the Oxford vaccine was developed within such a short timespan because the researchers had anticipated another outbreak, and were prepared for it. The team had previously worked on developing an adenovirus based vaccine for the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. The researchers identified the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 as the prime target for the vaccine. The genetic code for the spike protein was copy-pasted into a chimpanzee adenovirus harmless to humans, to create the Oxford vaccine. The vaccine trains the body to recognise and eliminate the spike proteins on the coronavirus.

The COVID-19 outbreak gave a big boost to medical technologies worldwide. These included the development of vaccines with novel modes of administration, diagnostic kits for use in non-clinical settings, and the advancement of remote patient care. In India, there was a boost to domestic medical device manufacturing capabilities, with research institutions around the country developing a number of ventilators.

Wadhwa says, “One of the biggest examples of how big a giant technology has become was witnessed during the COVID outbreak; chatbots and virtualized patient care sprung in no time and were/are being used by people from all walks of life which was inconceivable a couple of years back. High performance computing technologies have fast-tracked research into creation of diagnostic kits and vaccine on an unknown viral entity in record time thus rewriting a new chapter in history of technological advancement.”

The COVID-19 pandemic also resulted in an increased focus on self-care. People around the world not only wanted to know more about themselves, but also recognised the need to be more informed about the procedures. The differences between the various vaccines and their associated risks became a talking point not just for scientists in research labs, bot for lay persons looking for the best options for themselves and their families.

Wadhwa says, “Visibility created by Information and Technology merging with AI has not only influenced tracking samples and their results thus improving laboratory functions, easing patient anxiety but is also now keeping patients informed on their health through smart reports and allowing them to take control over next best action scientifically.”

How AI and Genomics will go even further in data use and keeping patients informed

There are some basic advantages to artificial intelligence technologies. They do not get tired, and there is no concept of overwork here. AI systems can also process vast quantities of data quickly. Such voluminous data can easily overwhelm individual clinicians. AI technologies are also excellent at discerning subtle patterns, which may be challenging for humans to recognise. These abilities allow for early detection of symptoms, personalised treatments, and precise predictions on how the disease will progress. All of this information arms the patient to make informed and responsible decisions for themselves and their families. AI is so reliable, that it does away with the requirement of a ‘second opinion’.

Wadhwa says, “If we were to pinpoint areas where scientific technology has progressed at a phenomenal pace benefitting diagnostics in ways more than enhancements, then the first will be Artificial Intelligence in imaging to support cancer diagnosis in the laboratory. Not only does it offer tools like heat maps that increase efficiency of the pathologist in scanning and identifying disease in tissue but it also helps in tumour grading and measurements and as an outcome helps decrease inter-pathologist variation, often seen with manual reporting, by more than 80 per cent.”

AI is also accelerating the discovery of new drugs, by being able to predict the interactions between novel drugs and proteins within the human body. AI can also assess vast datasets to identify potential drug candidates, and even provide predictions on their efficacy. Here AI also helps analyse genomic data from patients, which is the process of identifying genetic mutations and variations. Based on a patient’s genetic profile, genomics can be used to predict which drugs are likely to be more effective. The use of genomics is revolutionary, in that it allows healthcare professionals to formulate, targetted, personalised treatment plans.

Wadhwa continues, “Genomics has created these huge opportunities for studying human genome and its role in health promotion, prevention of chronic diseases and response to medicine. Human response to a particular diet, fitness and training regimen, lifestyle, predisposition to skin and heart disorders and personalized treatments for cancer can now be predicted and millions of lives benefitted/ saved.”

The complexities of working in India

The diagnostics industry in India is operated mainly by private players, with a lack of robust regulations in place, accompanied by lax enforcement and a lack of awareness of the rules. The norms in place are led by the market demands, and are often self-imposed. This has resulted in a wide variation in service quality, as well as reliability. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, private labs were not adequately utilised for testing purposes, even though the government granted unchecked discretionary power to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for regulating testing strategies.

For most patients in India, information asymmetry is a problem. The healthcare professionals often possess much more information than the patients themselves, which can complicate decision making and potentially expose the patients to exploitation. The lack of standardised procedures also complicates the decision making process, exacerbates patient asymmetry, and erodes the trust that patients have in doctors.

When asked about the challenges of the medical technologies landscape in India, Wadhwa says, “Well, I would not call them as challenges but would prefer to term them as opportunities for success and improvements alike. Current fragmentation within the type of diagnostic players operating in the market wherein top diagnostic chains and hospitals (with most following all accreditation norms) are challenged by smaller players, many of which are being operated by part-time pathologists and few only by technologists due to lack of stringent regulations around operations.”

The light-touch regulations allow for flexibility and innovation, by allowing laboratories to rapidly adopt novel technologies, devices and testing methods. Stricter regulations may constrain the efficiency of private laboratories. The minimal regulations also reduce the administrative burden on laboratories, ultimately bringing the costs down for patients, making the technologies available to a broader population. This kind of agility is important for pandemics.

Wadhwa says, “This on one hand puts quality of operations under duress but on the other hand paves way for innovation. Solutions from middleware platforms will soon become part of daily workflows which will decrease direct real-time human intervention and will thus create more opportunities in the field of technology and open a new vista for lean management. To sum up investment in technology is the only way forward for offering quality of care, ease and keep operations sustainable”