Category: IT

IT, Sonstiges

MedCrunch Interview with Marc Triola and John Qualter at TEDMED 2012

Alejandro Marcano

During TEDMED we had the opportunity to meet, talk with and interview many interesting people and learn about what advances they are bringing to healthcare’s future. Among the most interesting ones was our interview with TEDMED speakers Marc Triola, M.D. and John Qualter creators of the Biodigital Human, a very detailed and web-based 3D model of the human body with the hopes of contributing in the education of the new generation of medical students.   MC: There are many other 3D models of the human body out there, some even as smartphone or tablet apps; how is yours different? Marc: Ours is designed from the ground of education, it’s highly detailed and unlike other systems this is designed to show disease processes and living processes such as the beating heart and functional lungs, the progression of diseases like cancer and we also have a far greater number of tools in here to allow the students to practice the skills of dissecting and understand what they are seeing. John: Not to mention it is web-based, so everyone who has access to an updated web browser would be able to use this technology. It is widely available, they don’t need to have smartphones.   MC: […]

IT

TEDMED 2012 Recap – Part 2

Alejandro Marcano

This is part 2 of our previous post. Take a look at part 1 here. Session 6: “You Get What You Select For” Frances Arnold a professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering and biochemistry at CalTech amazed us by explaining how she is evolving proteins by making them “have sex” (these TEDMED talks really spice things up). She accelerates the evolution process to come up with better genomic sequences that produce more efficient proteins. We interviewed Frances and will post about it in the next few days. One of the greatest talks of all the conference came from world-renowned biologist and Harvard’s Professor Emeritus E.O. Wilson. He started by geting rid of formalities taking of his tie and gaining the sympathy of all the audience. Every delegate got a TEDMED bag with many goodies on it, including E.O. Wilson’s new book titled “The Social Conquest of Earth” (can’t wait to read it). He called for all young scientists to be part of the search for knowledge by inspiring us with his principles. He said it is important to study across disciplines (it is amazing how this principle is present and strong among many of the TEDMED speakers and delegates), to drift […]

IT, Sonstiges

TEDMED 2012 Recap – Part 1

Alejandro Marcano

Like children who were suddenly forced to go home after spending three and a half days in Disney World, the delegates slowly made their ways towards the exit of the J.F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts as one of the greatest conferences for healthcare innovation concluded. Following the format of the original TED Talks, TEDMED featured “21 women, 45 men, 1 monster, 32 performers up on stage” – actual tweet from @TEDMED. Imagination, innovation and inspiration are the three words used to describe the mission of this community of passionate, leading-edge thinkers who come from every discipline within the fields of health and medicine, as well as from business, government, technology, academia, media and the arts. This mixture provides a very unique way of learning across disciplines towards a common goal. For all of you who couldn’t come or who couldn’t catch any of the simulcast spots spread around the US, we provide you with a summarized recap of the most interesting presentations we saw. The TEDMED team will start to upload the official videos in 3-4 weeks, they’ll go up in batches of 5-6, once every week.   Session 1: “Embracing the Unconventional” An astonishing act by the […]

IT, Sonstiges

MedCrunch Interview with Seth Cooper at TEDMED 2012

C.J. Lion

Alejandro and I sat down for an interview with Seth Cooper, the Creative Director of the Center for Game Science at the University of Washington. Dr. Cooper spoke during TEDMED about the power of play and the role that games can play in dealing with scientific challenges. Seth is a co-creator and a primary developer of Foldit, a protein folding game that allows users to help predict protein structure and design new proteins, both of which allow for the better understanding of disease and also for the development of new ways to combat disease.   CJ: In your speech today you talked about Foldit and generating the best protein shape. How is that best shaped protein determined exactly?     Seth: Within the game, everything is based on a score function obtained from biochemists. The game is based on a computational function, so if you give it a protein structure, it will give you back a number that tells you how well folded that particular protein is. It‘s based on the fundamental properties of proteins. It’s an estimate of how well folded that particular protein structure is. The way that the game works is that we post a protein structure […]

IT

The Chopped Physician

Lukas Zinnagl

Think about how the role of the physician has changed during the last thousands of years. From the greeks to ancient egypt to modern medicine, which again, within it again has evolved extensively. In general, medicine has gotten a lot more complicated. The role of the physician has also changed rapidlly and radically. While the physician has always been a single individual, a healer, a human being capable of preventing, detecting and ultimately treating illnesses. When the world had little knowledge about medicine and conditions the physician’s job was not only far more mystic, but also a lot simpler. It really required less training, less work, less specialization. The circumstances modern healthcare indirectly created are ubiquitious and have shaped all aspects of medicine, except for the physician. The chopped physician is not existant, yet it should be. Modern medicine requires team work to function properly. People working in healthcare usually are responsible for very certain and defined tasks. Phlebologists take blood, Echocardiographers perform sonography of your heart, MTAs do this, and Y does that. Yet the physician has not “chopped” herself. If physicians were to adapt to the diversification of modern medicine, than they must do so themselves by diversifying themselves. […]

IT

Don’t Be Obedient

Lukas Zinnagl

If you are a physician, then don’t be obedient and question everything. It sounds trivial, yet it’s incredibly hard to accomplish in medicine. From our first days in med school to our residency at hospitals, we are taught, that science and …