Brittany Wenger, a student from Sarasota, Florida created a “artificial neural network“able to find patterns of genetic profiles to diagnose patients with a form of cancer called mixed lineage leukemia (MLL), a particularly aggressive cancer. Only 40% of patients survive this leukemia for more than five years.”
A computer capable of identifying leukemia
As artificial neural networks are programs modeled on neurons in the brain and their interconnections, explains Brittany Wenger at Mashable.com, they “can actually learn to detect things that transcend human knowledge“.
Through her research, this young girl also discovered that “different types of cancer have different molecular fingerprints.” She has found four particular kinds of genes in the body that can be targeted to create specific drugs for this type of leukemia. Not only has she created a powerful diagnostic tool for this cancer, but these findings could also contribute to the development of new treatments.
This gifted young girl had already made a name for herself by developing an artificial intelligence program capable of diagnosing breast cancer.
