In honor of his son Beau, who died last spring from brain cancer, Vice President Joe Biden has pledged to find a way to cure cancer.
According to a story from Delaware Public Media, Biden is starting with the idea of a gene-sequencing database.
It would work by organizing genetic data on cancer patients and what kind of cancer they had, the treatment they received and what was successful.
Raj Rajasekaren, a leading cancer doctor in Delaware, said such a database would be an invaluable tool in treating, and possibly curing, cancer, but it could be tough to create because of privacy laws.
“Once we start with personalized treatment, you’re going to have tons and tons of data,” Rajasekaren told DPM. “At some point — probably in the next generation of kids — we’ll be able to say, OK, if you have this particular genome, you may not respond to this particular treatment, you probably need a different treatment.”
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