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Google is in deep with Artificial Intelligence

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DeepMind is a Google owned company dedicated to making computers that think and act like humans. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expanding and evolving at a fast pace, much do to big investments.

google deepmind
Robot Evolution

Google is serious about AI as can be seen by its show of big announcements in recent weeks — the improved Google Translate machine learning tricks, its voice-controlled speaker system Home, and their new smartphone line Pixel (which is equipped with the virtual Assistant). All this is evidence of their dedication to the science of artificial intelligence. But now Google has ramped up its investments in what’s known as “deep learning”. In 2012, Google had two deep-learning projects underway. Today, Google has more than 1,000 deep-learning projects in every major product category, including search, maps, translation, and self-driving cars.

google deepmind

Digital Trends says that deep learning refers to a kind of AI that enables software to train itself to perform tasks, like speech and image recognition. The algorithms behind this kind of AI have been around since the 1980s and 1990s, Fortune reports, but it’s only in recent years that technology companies have been able to harness its true potential thanks to the explosion of easily accessible big data. Google launched its deep-learning project Google Brain in 2011, and in 2014 it bought DeepMind, a pioneering reinforcement learning program that’s been shattering AI landmarks in gameplay this year.

“Deepmind has also invested in healthcare and now has up to 40 employees.”

The expansion of DeepMind Health comes as the company looks to do increasing amounts of work with the NHS. The company has announced three NHS partnerships so far, including an eyecare project, a kidney monitoring project and a cancer detection project. None of the projects hold any commercial value for DeepMind but the company eventually plans to start charging the NHS and others for access to its products and services.

3 Things Google’s “Verily” is Solving in Healthcare

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Googles new venture “Verily” has a big vision for healthcare and solving the mysteries of the world. They are taking this on in a whole new light with a whole new prescription. Imagine a chemist and an engineer and a doctor and a behavioral scientist, all working together to truly understand health and to better prevent, detect, and manage disease. Picture a world in which technology and life sciences are not distinct, but partners with a united mission.

Verily GoogleThat’s the world Google wants to create. Their multidisciplinary teams have access to advanced research tools, large scale computing power, and unique technical expertise. They are gaining partners from across the industry and many fields of research to develop new technology, launch studies, and start companies.

Verily’s mission “is to bring together technology and life sciences to uncover new truths about health and disease.”

Developing new ways to treat and manage diabetes.

But in a sign that the company is serious about making real progress, it’s not diving into diabetes research alone. It is working with French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies.

Verily screenshot 2Google wanted to do more than dabble in biomedical research were growing even before Google co-founder Sergey Brin said its life sciences operation would be spun out as an independent company under Google’s reorganization into Alphabet. Google has in recent months hired prominent scientists, including immunologists, neurologist and even nanoparticle engineers to feed its life sciences ambitions.

Diabetes is a logical starting point. The life sciences unit already has developed a contact lens for measuring blood glucose levels, and it recently signed a deal with medical equipment company Dexcom to develop a cheap and convenient continuous glucose monitoring device.

Google says this focus on diabetes marks a move away from a “tech centric” approach to a “disease centric” approach. 

“New technologies could make it simple for a physician to understand when a patient’s blood sugar is tracking high for days in a row,” Google says, “or could offer new ways for a patient to get real-time information and specific guidance about diet or insulin dosage.”

Google Inc.’s life sciences group has created a health-tracking wristband

This is a rugged device that could be used in clinical trials and drug tests, giving researchers or physicians minute-by-minute data on how patients are faring.

The experimental device, can measure pulse, heart rhythm and skin temperature, and also environmental information like light exposure and noise levels. It won’t be marketed as a consumer device, said Andy Conrad, head of the life sciences team at Google.

google wrist“Our intended use is for this to become a medical device that’s prescribed to patients or used for clinical trials,” Conrad said in a telephone interview.

Google offers health-monitoring smartwatch features in its Android Wear software platform for consumers, through partners such as Moto, LG Electronics Inc., Samsung and others, but most existing consumer devices aren’t rigorous enough for research, said Conrad. This is not meant to be a consumer product but a technological advance in patient researching.

Medication reminders that know when you’re eating and 4 other Google digital health patents

Google has filed a patent for a smartwatch-type device that could detect when an individual is eating and issue a reminder for patients to take their medication, MobiHealthNews reported.

Medication reminder
Google patent for a needle-free blood drawing device. It could be in the form of a wrist wearable or a handheld device.

The medication reminder patent is the latest filed by Verily. The device has “one or more sensors,” and it figures out when a person is eating, partly using “pre-defined activity data that are indicative of an act of a human consuming an ingestible substance.” Activity data could include the speed and length of a person’s motions and the rotations involved. For example, the actions involved in scooping up soup with a spoon could be familiar to the device, and could be enough to trigger a notification.

Commitment

Verily’s business is fairly simplistic: It develops medical devices (like its smart contact lens) and advanced software, then licenses these to pharmaceutical and medical companies which will likely sell them. But Verily is also going deeper into the medical field. It’s conducting several clinical studies and experimenting with genetic sequencing and drug discovery.

googleAs of July 2014, members of the research team include Andrew Conrad, founder of LabCorp‘s National Genetics Institute; Vik Bajaj, an expert in nuclear magnetic resonance; Marija Pavlovic, who studies the effect of radiation on DNA; Alberto Vitari, a cancer biologist; Brian Otis, who worked on Google Venture’s glucose-sensing contact lens; and Mark DePristo, who worked on the GATK at the Broad Institute. Dr. Thomas R. Insel announced on Sept. 15, 2015, that he was resigning as the director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to join this division.

It is exciting to get a new perspective on healthcare research and disease management.

The Verily Story

CES Innovation – DietSensor Scans Your Food and Determines Nutritional Value

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DietSensor tells you what’s really in your food – Wins the CES Innovation Award.

As the innovative tech rolls out of CES this week, I’d like to point out some of the unique and passionate gadgets that could actually change your life. Enter the DietSensor from innovator, co-founder and CEO, Remy Bonnasse. His product has received the 2016 CES Innovation Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. 
CESFor those of you who count your carbs and calories, DietSensor is looking to make your life easier. The French-based startup has created a tool that scans your food and determines its nutritional value. If you are diabetic this could make your life just a little bit easier. The thought is that you can go out to eat at a restaurant or anytime your out of the house, and still keep monitor and track your meals.

remy

“It’s the next generation of diet and nutrition apps,” said Bonnasse. “This will do all the heavy calculation for you. You don’t have to think.” 

There is a compatible app that keeps track of and displays the nutritional content. DietSensor has worked with doctors and nutritionists to create customized diets.

dietsensor screens

Here’s how they say it works: The handheld scanner sends an infrared beam on the surface of the food or beverage. It then captures the reflected wavelengths that carry the signature of its composition. The DietSensor app will then interpret the data and create a meal profile that provides you with the nutritional facts, along with some general tips about how many calories, carbs, or proteins you should eat for the meal.

Diet-Sensor-cheese

Wow! While the idea is interesting, it’s not totally perfect. The scanner can only read foods those with a single level such as chicken, crackers, bread, cheese, and cereal. It was unable to determine the nutrition of a candy bar. While the DietSensor app lets you manually input nutritional data in these situations, that’s no different than apps like MyFitnessPal and Lose It. So there is some work to be done, or some deals to be made.

DietSensor works with a small molecular scanner known as the SCiO. It can collects and displays user-friendly nutritional information on a wide range of food. The SCiO device, which is developed by Israeli company Consumer Physics, claims to be able read the chemical makeup of materials. It’s non-intrusive and doesn’t need to touch the object. You simply point and scan.

escesdietsensor in handThe DietSensor will launch in September this year, but will not be cheap. The small SCiO scanner will set you back $249, while the DietSensor app will include a monthly subscription of between $10 to $20. The total cost over a year would be just under $500. While this may be high for the average consumer, someone who has to watch their weight because of medical problems would find this invaluable. And if used with the instruction of a nutritionist, adherence to weight management may be a realistic goal for patients.

DietSensor in motion

Google Health – Easy as ABC. Alphabet, Calico and the Aging of Humanity – What on Earth are they doing?

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Everyone is talking about the changes at Google, and it really doesn’t matter if we think it’s good or bad (although I think it is a good thing). They are Google, and they will do. They are so ginormous that even if this wasn’t the right thing, they’ll just change and go in a different direction if need be. Bottom line: just go with it and see what they do. But what are they doing? Specifically, in healthcare? This is an area they have been a little fuzzy on direction, but that has changed over the past 2 years. Let’s take a look at what some of the top healthcare challenges Google is taking on. In addition, one of their initiatives called Calico, has now become a main component of the new structure –Alphabet Inc (also check out the Google Alphabet announcement at ABC.XYZ and look for the easter egg too).

alphabet companies

What is Calico?

Calico is an independent research and development biotech company established in 2013 by Google Inc. and Arthur D. Levinson with the goal of combating aging and associated diseases. The name Calico is shorthand for California Life Company.  In Google’s 2013 Founders’ Letter, Larry Page described Calico as a company focused on “health, wellbeing and longevity.” In August 2015, Google announced plans to restructure into Alphabet Inc., wherein Google and Calico would become two of the main units of the new company.

“We’re tackling aging, one of life’s greatest mysteries.”

Calico is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan. We will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Executing on this mission will require an unprecedented level of interdisciplinary effort and a long-term focus for which funding is already in place.

google solve death

According to Healthcare Dive, here are 4 of the biggest healthcare challenges Google is tackling

  1. Researching cures for age-related diseases. The researchers from Google’s Calico team have partnered with several outside organizations to study the biology of aging and to develop potential interventions that will slow aging and counteract age-related diseases. Google’s Calico team is comprised of scientists from the fields of medicine, drug development, molecular biology and genetics.
  2. Detecting and fighting cancer. In 2013, Google filed a patent for a wearable device that would target cancer cells by sending magnetic nanoparticles into a patient’s bloodstream. “The binding of the particles to the targets allows the targets to be selectively modified or destroyed by energy from outside the body such that the adverse health effects are reduced or eliminated,” the patent application says. Last October, Google also announced it was working on development of a pill that it hopes will detect cancers and other diseases by sending magnetic nanoparticles into the bloodstream.
  3. Shifting from treatment to prevention. Last summer, Google began an ambitious project to collect genetic and molecular information from anonymous donors to create a picture of what it means to be a healthy human. The ultimate goals of the project, known simply as “Baseline Study,” are much earlier detection of major health issues, such as heart disease and cancer, and a shift of focus from treatment to prevention.“With any complex system, the notion has always been there to proactively address problems,” Andrew Conrad, head of Google X’s Life Sciences team, told The Wall Street Journal. “That’s not revolutionary. We are just asking the question: If we really wanted to be proactive, what would we need to know? You need to know what the fixed, well-running thing should look like.”
  4. Simplifying glucose monitoring. Early last year, Google unveiled a prototype of a contact lens that monitors glucose levels in tears. The lens uses a minuscule glucose sensor and a wireless transmitter to monitor blood sugar so that insulin doses can be adjusted accordingly. The lenses are not expected to be available to consumers for at least another four years. Google last month forged a partnership with pharmaceutical company Novartis to work on a contact lens that can monitor blood glucose levels. 

diabetes tech“Over 29 million Americans have diabetes”
 – US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Google to collaborate with DexCom on diabetes monitoring products

Bandaid sensor and health tracking band

“The small sensor, which will be the size of a Band-Aid, will sit on the skin and constantly monitor blood sugar levels rather than relying on finger pricks. The sensor and algorithms will connect with Google hardware and its cloud for a strong data platform. This collaboration is another step toward expanding monitoring options and making it easier for people with diabetes to proactively manage their health,” stated Andrew Conrad, head of the Life Sciences team at Google, in a statement. DexCom estimates that the sensor will be commercialized within the next five years.

The glucose monitoring device is not Google’s first step into the development of medical devices, as the Life Sciences team is also working on a health tracking wristband that will track temperature, pulse, and heart rhythm. In addition.

At the end of the day, Google is 100% dedicated to healthcare in the world. Where they land with solutions over the years to come will be most interesting to watch. These are exciting times for Google. They have no promise of a product or return on investment, but they know that moonshots have paid off big in the past. And part of their belief is not surrounded by money, but of hope. 

 

For fun, here are 10 World-Changing Futuristic Google Projects (some have already happened.)

 

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