My wife likes to say that the cure for cancer is buried somewhere in the Amazon rainforest. Scientists just have to locate it and develop it.
I don't know about the cure for cancer, but I do know that from the venom of certain snakes in the Amazon has come the key ingredients for ACE inhibitors, a life-saving cardiac drug used around the world. At the same time, Amazonian rainforest trees have given us rubber, something that's benefitted people worldwide. Unfortunately, the people of the Amazon have received precious little benefit from either discovery. It's all accrued to others.
Hoping to prevent the misappropriation of Amazonian biological assets in the future is Juan Carlos Castilla Rubio, a Brazilian entrepreneur. Rubio is personally try to reverse the long term destruction of the Amazonian rainforest by getting everyone refocused away from logging and moving towards seeking innovation. He's confident that drawing upon the past experience of ACE inhibitors and rubber – making sure that Brazilians benefit from any innovation that comes from the rainforest – is key. The question, how?
Doubtless, you've heard of the Human Genome Project, initially completed about 12 years ago. For the first time, the 23 pairs of chromosomes of a human were catalogued. Since then, millions of humans have had their DNA analyzed, and scientists have decoded the genomes of about 2,500 other species.
Several months ago scientists launched what's called the Earth Biogenome Project, the goal of which is to sequence all of the genomes of the 1.5 million Eukaryotic animals/organisms known. Eukaryotes are organisms whose cells have nuclei. Organizers announced the audacious goal of analyzing the genomes of about 1.5 million species within 10 years!
At the recent World Economic Forum, there were announcements about trying to link both the Amazonian effort with the Earth Biogenome Project. No question, there's some very BIG THINKING going on! The question is, could it really happen, or is this just another case of creating a gigantic "wish list"?
The good news: I think it could really happen. A confluence of technologies may make things like ACE inhibitors from snake venom in the Amazon an everyday occurrence, and catapult technology in a dramatic fashion. Three technologies are likely to make this audacious goal possible: genome sequencing; open source data warehouses; and blockchain smart contracts. Let's take a look at how all three might be brought together to propel technological change.
There's a good reason the genomes of only about 2,500 species have been sequenced so far: cost. But the cost is dropping at Moore's Law rates. Anyone who has had companies such as 23andme sequence their personal genome know how much less it costs today than just a few years ago.
Besides cost reduction, the sequencers are becoming portable. Various companies are developing handheld gene sequencers to take into the field. Oxford Nanopore, a British company, currently sells its MinIon handheld device and promises that sequencing can be done for under $1,000. The goal is to get it down to $ 100. So it may soon be possible to deploy armies of field researchers armed with $ 100 handheld sequencers.
Getting the cost down is certainly important, but making the sequencers portable is probably the more significant development. That's because one of the big challenges to gene sequencing is transporting samples. In many cases, countries are loathe to let samples be taken from natural habitats. After all, everybody already knows that most countries take a very dim view of eco-tourists taking samples home. With handheld devices, however, there's the possibility that fieldworkers can take handheld sequencing devices out and take genetic samples without disturbing the habitat. It will still be a huge challenge to sequence the genomes of every Eukaryotic species, but much more feasible if samples can be taken in the field.
The second key element is open source data warehouses. Increasingly, open source data warehouses are being developed to encourage collaboration amongst different parties. I have my own experience with this in a different domain- I'm an investor in a company called ServingLynk, which develops open source software and operates a data warehouse to track homelessness, and other human service issues, around the USA. Open source is especially beneficial in this field because it encourages different parties to collaborate. The key is to have one party host the data warehouse and ensure data integrity and security. Open source data tools are made available to all, giving everyone the opportunity to contribute additional code that will increase functionality and useability. If that's done, the solution can be far better than the traditional approach. Government entities with incompatible databases and systems can still share data fairly easily given open source databases and good API's.
So how do you apply that in this case? For users of the ServingLynk software, mobile apps are available that permit most anyone to gather data on a homeless person, then upload the data securely into the data warehouse. Because the databases include highly personal data, each entity that contributes data to the warehouse is free to keep data as private or open as desired. Highly sensitive data are kept confidential, but other data are made available to increase functionality.
So envision a giant open source data warehouse of genetic genomic sequences? Users can utilize products such as Nanopore's handheld device, gather genetic data in the field, then upload the data into the database. This solves a huge problem of countries keeping control of their biological heritage. They don't want experts coming and taking species from the field. Instead, data can be gathered unobtrusively in the field and entered into the database.
The other key problem is keeping control of the genetic patrimony. So let's go back to the Amazon rainforest case. Recall that two great technological innovations that came of out the Amazon rainforest were rubber trees and ACE inhibitors. The problem with these two innovations is that the local economy never fully benefitted from this. Instead, scientists came into the Amazon, made discoveries that made companies lots of money, but very little of that money was ever shared with the local economy.
The third element provides a potential solution to the problem. That is to utilized blockchain "smart contracts". Doubtless, you're aware of Bitcoin and Ethereum, two implementations of blockchain technology. Bitcoin certainly has a checkered reputation as a currency.
So just what is a "smart contract"? Here's one definition: Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. Smart contracts permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out among disparate, anonymous parties without the need for a central authority, legal system, or external enforcement mechanism. They render transactions traceable, transparent, and irreversible.
In this case, blockchain will be implemented for a non-financial purpose. Here's the idea. Each time someone wants to utilize the genetic sequence of a particular eukaryote, a blockchain smart contract could be created. Given the way blockchain works, it would not be very easy to take genetic information from a particular country and exploit it without everyone else knowing. Thus, the blockchain would record how a particular researcher, or company, wishes to utilize the genetic information. If it is fortunate enough to develop something every useful, everyone will know. The truth can't easily be hidden.
A majority countries in the world – 104 at last count, but not including the United States – have entered into what's called the Nagoya Protocol. The purpose of this is to protect the biological patrimony of signatory countries from being exploited. This should prevent large companies from repeating the exploitation of snake venom from the Amazon to create ACE inhibitors. At least if there is a technological innovation, the Nagoya Protocol provides a way for the host country to benefit.
Applying blockchain smart contracts will make this much easier to do. Here's a possible way. If a Nanopore genetic sequencer is used on a previously un-catalogued species, there could be a requirement to add the genetic sequence to the open source database. Moreover, a smart contract could be appended to this, providing what limits are placed on the use of the genetic data. The blockchain will ensure everyone knows about this. Thus, any time a party wants to exploit the genetic data, the smart contract provisions will come into play.
Will this be a panacea? Absolutely not! The lions are not going to lie down with lambs on this one. However, it will be easier to manage this with the three components of handheld sequencers, open source databases, and blockchain smart contracts.
As previously mentioned, the goal is to complete sequencing on all 1.5 million Eukaryotic organisms within 10 years. The estimated cost is at least $ 4.7 billion dollars to sequence all of the estimated 1.5 million non-human Eukaryotes. A huge amount of money, but remember that when the Human Genome Project was undertaken, the cost and timeline were projected to be far greater than what turned out to be the case. Technological innovation certainly explains a lot of that.
Making the entire process more transparent should also help. Just creating the database should help spur research and create unexpected opportunities. Making it open source, creating low cost tools to sequence data, and enabling blockchain smart contracts should make it just that much more powerful.
Sequencing the entire human genome has already yielded incredible scientific benefits. Doing the same for all 1.5 million Eukaryotic organisms will likely produce almost unimaginable benefits. Getting there will be a challenge, but potentially a very manageable one with open source software and data warehouse, handheld genetic sequencers, and "smart contract" blockchains. And we may find ourselves just that much closer to finding the cure to cancer in some plant in the Amazon ... and realizing the dream of Juan Carlos Castilla Rubio: the local people benefitting in a way they never have before.
