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I am a scientist (Systems and AI) and unfortunately had to learn a lot about cancer due to it striking a parent recently. Cancer is certainly an umbrella term

I am a scientist (Systems and AI) and unfortunately had to learn a lot about cancer due to it striking a parent recently. Cancer is certainly an umbrella term and a complex disease. Here is a ELI5 explanation I thought was very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tzaWOdvGMw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tzaWOdvGMw Personal Tirade: I am extremely disappointed how stupid medical research is .. trying to uphold the scientific method in the face of a near and certain death. It is all being done wrong and wasteful. I found papers from the 80s and 90s from physicians complaining about the same thing. If things go the way they are, we are not curing any significant form of cancer in my lifetime. Btw .. the fast-track of vaccines during covid shows there are scientifically rigorous ways of doing things fast. But the people who run the show .. I am not even convinced they are motivated to solve the problem expediently. We should be (A) sequencing cancer cells like crazy and (B) tracking patient histories. No matter where people live in the world. The data is GOLD. My parent has a "rare" cancer .. but the definition of "rare" seems unquantifiable. If I was running the show, I'd sequence the heck of the cells for EVERY cancer patient, and throwing modern computing at it. As for therapeutics, we should be paralleling treatments and composing treatments. I have some doctors in the family who tell me since we are dealing with human beings, we can't be reckless. But what is the point being conservative when someone has 6 months or less to live? We need to move fast and break things .. at least we bloody tried.

tmpacct19834 4y ago
Your frustration with the pace of cancer research is valid and there is a long history of people sharing this sentiment. Since the start of the “War on Cancer”, scientists, clinicians, and patients have been torn between the sometimes opposing forces of knowledge and the urgent need for treatments. I recommend “the emperor of all maladies” by siddhartha mukherjee for a historical perspective on cancer. However, the solutions are not as simple as you propose. There are a staggering number of experimental modalities used to investigate cancer. We sequence tens of thousands of tumors, many of which are available in public datasets. Digital pathology, single cell methods, spatial methods, etc. Large scale EHR management is a controversial issue in its own right, as is the question of breakthrough experimental therapies. Cancer is just a very difficult problem with many facets.

tmpacct19834 4y ago

Your frustration with the pace of cancer research is valid and there is a long history of people sharing this sentiment. Since the start of the “War on Cancer”, scientists, clinicians, and patients have been torn between the sometimes opposing forces of knowledge and the urgent need for treatments. I recommend “the emperor of all maladies” by siddhartha mukherjee for a historical perspective on cancer. However, the solutions are not as simple as you propose. There are a staggering number of experimental modalities used to investigate cancer. We sequence tens of thousands of tumors, many of which are available in public datasets. Digital pathology, single cell methods, spatial methods, etc. Large scale EHR management is a controversial issue in its own right, as is the question of breakthrough experimental therapies. Cancer is just a very difficult problem with many facets.