Data Mining researchers unearth new uses for existing medications
By Burke Watson
S
tephen Wong has been called a lot of things in his storied career — engineer, developer of the first inkjet printer and the first and largest online trading site. But he has a new name to add to his myriad accomplishments — matchmaker. Employing computer skills to sort through the vast array of medical data that scientists have compiled digitally over the past decade, Wong and his research team at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute are working to match existing drugs with diseases they weren’t originally created to fight. The effort, still in its early stages, is drawing widespread attention as it raises the prospect of whittling down some major obstacles, including the staggering cost of bringing a new medication through its long series of clinical trials.
14 methodisthealth.com
Dr. Stephen Wong holds the John S. Dunn Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering.
