Things are ramping up on Project DRUGS, with the DreamLab app having now crunched over four million calculations. But we're just getting started...
Have you downloaded the Vodafone Foundation’s DreamLab app? If so, you’ll already know all about how your phone can transform you into a superhero at night – using its processing power to crunch enormous numbers that help inform cancer research drug trials at Imperial College London.
New to DreamLab? There’s never been a better time to get downloading; we’ve just crossed the four million calculations mark, which means we’re moving into the app’s all-important second phase. Here’s what you need to know…
#SleepLikeAHero 2.0
Drugs Repurposing Using Grids of Smartphones’, or Project DRUGS for short, is a pioneering piece of research that aims to determine how different cancer types can be treated with different combinations of existing drugs. And, to unearth those solutions, we need you to #SleepLikeAHero.
“We’re now moving everyone over to phase two, where the maths gets even trickier.”
That’s because the millions upon millions of calculations needed are all being handled by phones with the DreamLab app installed – turning the nation’s mobiles into one big supercomputer. Sound good? Here’s the important part: now that we’ve hit four million calculations, we’re shifting up a gear.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll notice that all your hard work for phase one has now been logged as being complete. That’s because we’re now moving everyone over to phase two of the project, where the maths gets even trickier. But don’t worry: whether you were previously at one percent or 99 percent, all your hard work for phase one will be recorded and kept, so there’s no fear of all those naps going to waste!
So what’s phase two of DRUGS all about? Well, in a word: Insights. More specifically, using the ones generated in phase one to gather smarter ones.
What that means in cancer research terms, is that the next batch of calculations your phone computes overnight with DreamLab will be focussed on finding new, genetically-tailored individual drug recommendations based on what we’ve already uncovered. In other words? We’ve got the ball rolling, now it’s time to nail down what works, and what doesn’t.
Of course, this is complicated stuff, so phase two is just one more step in the overall DreamLab journey; we’ll be rolling into further, even more complex stages as and when we can. In the meantime, though, every calculation – and every DreamLab-enabled phone – is vital. DreamLab provides the computing power needed to determine how different genetic mutations affect drug outcomes, so we need you and your smartphone now more than ever!
The great news there though, is that you don’t have to do a single thing differently. Just keep on using the app every time you charge your phone at night, and you’ll keep on sleeping like hero! Keep it locked here for more on DreamLab as it happens.
Learn more about DreamLab… Here’s everything you need to know about the app, and how your smartphone can make a difference.
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