The iOS is being used for some pretty neat DNA studies.
A series of five new apps based on Apple’s ResearchKit, including one called ‘mPower”, has allowed researchers to track symptoms of Parkinson’s disease as well as help recruit thousands of study participants in a few days.
“Apple launched ResearchKit and got a fantastic response. The obvious next thing is to collect DNA,” says Gholson Lyon, a geneticist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who isn’t involved with the studies.
The article, written by Antonio Regalado, can be found over at MIT’s Technology Review web site, focuses on Apple’s collaboration with researchers to create the ResearchKit framework, which allows scientists and health professionals to collect phone sensor & survey data to analyze health trends, personalize treatments and more.
The piece moves into how two additional DNA studies have been planned to further examine Parkinson’s and that collected data will be maintained in a private cloud that could ultimately lead to letting users share DNA with various healthcare providers.
Regaldo’s article makes for a good read, so give it a look and if you’ve heard of anything similar from your end, please let us know in the comments.