December 7, 2011

Video Game Players Advancing Genetic Research


Thousands of video game players have helped significantly advance our understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer´s, diabetes and cancer over the past year. They are the users of a web-based video game developed by Dr. JÃ©rÃ´me Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette. Phylo is designed to allow casual game players to contribute to scientific research by arranging multiple sequences of colored blocks that represent human DNA. By looking at the similarities and differences between these DNA sequences, scientists are able to gain new insight into a variety of genetically-based diseases.

The researchers are releasing the results computed from the solutions collected over the last year today, together with an improved version of Phylo for tablets.

Over the past year, Phylo´s 17,000 registered users have been able to simply play the game for fun or choose to help decode a particular genetic disease. “A lot of people said they enjoyed playing a game which could help to trace the origin of a specific disease like epilepsy,” said Waldispuhl. “There´s a lot of excitement in the idea of playing a game and contributing to science at the same time,” Blanchette agreed. ”It´s guilt-free playing; now you can tell yourself it´s not just wasted time.”


So far, it has been working very well. Since the game was launched in November 2010, the researchers have received more than 350,000 solutions to alignment sequence problems. “Phylo has contributed to improving our understanding of the regulation of 521 genes involved in a variety of diseases. It also confirms that difficult computational problems can be embedded in a casual game that can easily be played by people without any scientific training,” Waldispuhl said. “What we´re doing here is different from classical citizen science approaches. We aren´t substituting humans for computers or asking them to compete with the machines. They are working together. It´s a synergy of humans and machines that helps to solve one of the most fundamental biological problems.”



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