This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Targeted drug therapies are showing promise in combatting cancer, but classical clinical trials are poorly suited to matching them to the thousands of variations of cancer caused by different DNA mutations.
Big data techniques offer a way to analyze data pooled across many patients: their specific disease mutations, biological markers, the treatments, and outcomes -- in order to identify unexpected ways that existing therapies can be applied and combined to create personalized treatments that dramatically improve the chances of survival.