Perspectives on Innovation

Today we released a new round of four Life Technologies Grand Challenges. Matt Dyer, Ph.D., Senior Product Manager at Ion Torrent answers some questions about the Grand Challenge Program and offers tips for interested Solvers.

Can you tell us a bit about the Life Technologies Grand Challenge Program?

The Life Technologies Grand Challenge Program consists of three separate Challenges, each of which has a $1M prize associated with it. The three Challenges are Speed, Scalability, and Accuracy. The speed Challenge is centered on going from genomic DNA to pressing the start button on the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine(TM). If a Solver can do that in half the amount of time as we can do it, they win $1M. The focus on the scalability Challenge is to get more data from a single run of the PGM either by generating more reads or by my making the reads longer. If a Solver can double the throughput of a single run, you win $1M. Finally, the accuracy Challenge. The accuracy Challenge is unique in that it is purely a bioinformatics Challenge and Solvers don’t need to have a PGM to participate. The goal here is to take a subset of reads in which the bases calls are 99% accurate and develop a better signal processing algorithm to make them 99.5% accurate. The Solver that can cut the error rate in half wins $1M.

In general the Life Technologies Grand Challenge Program is a typical crowd sourcing initiative (e.g., Netflix), but with one subtle difference. Since these Challenges all involve core pieces of the platform, we continue to work on them along side Solvers. Each quarter we release the current benchmarks along with protocols and software used to generate them and Solver have three months to work on and submit a solution. At the end of the three month if the Challenges remain unsolved, we update the benchmarks and the process starts over.

Wow, $1M that’s a pretty big prize pool? Why are these Challenges so important to Life Technologies?

It is about shared innovation, semiconductor sequencing in and of itself is built on innovations that happen from many others across a wide range of industries. For example the computing industry, semi-conductor industry, sequencing manufacturing industry, etc. Additionally, a lot of what we are doing is open source like our software where we release our source code. The Grand Challenges represent a continuation of shared innovation. We realize that there are a lot of really bright people in this world. Why not empower them and leverage their insights and innovation by building a community and platform where they can openly share their ideas.

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We recently announced that JDRF was partnering with InnoCentive to find a better way to treat diabetes using a glucose-responsive insulin drug.  We asked Dr. Sanjoy Dutta, Director of Glucose Control at JDRF to tell us a bit about this Challenge and the overall state of diabetes treatment today.

Thank you for joining us today, Sanjoy.  Can you tell us a little bit about JDRF and the role you play in combating type 1 diabetes?

JDRF is committed to curing, treating, and preventing type 1 diabetes. While we work toward a cure, we strive to help people with type 1 diabetes live better, longer, healthier lives – people at all ages and at all stages of the disease.  They are the reason JDRF exists, and remain at the forefront of everything we do.

A vital part of the fight against type 1 diabetes is developing better treatments to help people live better with the disease while we search for cures and preventions. And that is why JDRF is taking strides to make managing the disease better, safer, more efficient – because it’s not an easy disease to live with.

JDRF is the largest charitable funder and advocate of diabetes science worldwide, and since our founding in 1970, we’ve awarded more than $1.5 billion to diabetes research. In fact, more than 80 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education.

Your Challenge is seeking ideas for the development of glucose-responsive insulin.  What is glucose-responsive insulin and what kind of impact would the discovery and development of glucose-responsive insulin have on people with diabetes?

JDRF is utilizing InnoCentive’s Challenge platform to create a tightly controlled, glucose-responsive insulin drug for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes.  This will enable improved glucose control, decrease or eliminate the need to test or monitor blood glucose levels, improve quality of life for people with the disease, and reduce their chances of short- and long-term diabetic complications.

Such a glucose-responsive insulin holds the potential to transform the lives of the hundreds of millions of people with diabetes in the world who are dependent on insulin (both type 1 and type 2). Working only when the body needs it, glucose-responsive insulin would deliver the precise amount of insulin in response to circulating glucose levels, to control and maintain normal blood glucose levels throughout a daily routine, with once-daily or less frequent dosing in people with insulin-dependent diabetes. This novel form of insulin would not need to be calibrated with carbohydrates or blood glucose testing (compared to current administration of insulin multiple times or continuously in a day).

Currently, all insulin treatments for people with diabetes release the same amount of insulin at fixed times throughout the entire body.  However, in people without diabetes, the body secretes insulin in proportion to local blood glucose levels, delivering it to the body’s tissues and organs at the appropriate times, according to their specific needs.  This helps the person without diabetes to maintain a target blood glucose level throughout the day.  Glucose-responsive insulin could therefore be a transformative solution, vastly improving the quality of life of people with insulin-dependent diabetes.

Can you talk about the larger universe of diabetes research?  Will there ever be a cure for diabetes? (more…)

Today we announced a new collaboration with the world renowned Cleveland Clinic, to advance medical and healthcare innovation.  The cornerstone of the partnership is the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Pavilion, which will be home to a series of Challenges aimed at providing new advances in patient care.  Dr. Paul DiCorleto, Ph.D., Sherwin-Page Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, led the initiative from the Cleveland Clinic side, bringing together a team of basic and clinical researchers with the aim of reaching outside of the traditional innovation process to uncover new ideas that could change the way the world approaches medical research.  We asked Dr. DiCorleto to give us his thoughts about the partnership and the role of open innovation in health care.

Hello Dr. DiCorleto, and thank you for speaking with us today. Can you tell us a bit about Cleveland Clinic and the mission of the Lerner Research Institute?

Cleveland Clinic is unique in that from its very beginning in 1921, the founders believed that research and education belonged with clinical care.  These elements remain in our mission statement today, and research is viewed as an integral part of patient care.  At the Lerner Research Institute, our goal is to understand the underlying causes of human diseases and to develop new treatments and cures.

Cleveland Clinic is a world renowned research institute.  Can you tell us about some of the specific innovations that have been developed since the organization’s founding? (more…)

We recently announced that the Assessment Research Centre at the University of Melbourne had posted a Reduction to Practice Challenge seeking the development of a software module to assess collaborative problem solving skills in schools. We asked Professor Patrick Griffin from the University of Melbourne to talk to us about this Challenge, Educational GUI for Collaborative Problem Solving. Patrick is the Executive Director of the ATC21S project.

Hello Patrick.  Thanks for talking to us about your Challenge. The Assessment & Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) is an international project coordinated by the Assessment Research Centre at the University.  Can you tell us a bit more about this project and what it hopes to accomplish?

In our information-rich world, students will need not just competence in math, science and reading, but in a number of other skills that include new ways of learning with technology, new ways to solve problems, and new ways to communicate using social media. The world of education has not even begun to explore the possibilities of these new 21st-century skills. So the ATC21S project has taken on the task of developing new ways of assessing collaborative problem-solving and learning through digital networks. In doing so, we are attempting to shift the direction of assessment and teaching towards a model that is more suitable to the measurement and development of skills that people will need in the 21st century. (more…)

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N), recently posted a Challenge called “Games for Health: Inspiring Adolescents to take Control of their Health” which is seeking ideas for the design of a video game that would inspire and empower kids with chronic diseases to become more engaged in managing their own illnesses. We asked George Dellal, Project Director for C3N to tell us a bit more about this interesting Challenge.

Hi George – thanks for talking with us today. Can you tell us a bit about the key healthcare issues you are trying to address with this Challenge?

Certainly. Americans currently receive only about 50 percent of recommended care and typically perform only about half of the “self-management” procedures and behaviors necessary to keep them healthy. Traditional approaches to addressing these issues aren’t working quickly enough, that’s why we’re creating the C3N (www.c3nproject.org) - a new system of care to enable patients, clinicians and researchers to collaborate to solve important problems, and use their collective creativity and expertise to act in ways that improve health.

Your Challenge focuses on creating a video game with a social media aspect that will be targeted at adolescent sufferers of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Clearly the solution will need to be something that kids – who are notoriously discriminating in their video game choices – will be motivated to play. What critical issues must the solution address?

We’re looking for the game to do (at least) two main things. Firstly, we need to change patient behavior in the real world – improve adherence to meds and increase patient empowerment and activation. We also want the game to span both patient and clinician community – a bridge to improve clinician / patient interaction.

Do you think the solution to this Challenge could be adapted to adults or to sufferers of other diseases?

Most certainly. IBD is our prototype condition, but much of what we’re designing is applicable to many other chronic diseases. We’re excited about spreading what we learn. (more…)