HOW can playing on an app generate scientific meaning? It’s a question that Cancer Research UK may have just answered at a favourable time: the use of mobile games increased by 66% last year. The charity enlisted the help of gaming experts at tech startup Guerilla Tea, as well as the Dundee agency, Amazon Web Services and many others in the creation of “Genes in Space”.
Released two months ago, the spaceship exploration game is centred on the hunt to harvest the fanciful element alpha by charting a course and steering a ship accordingly through outer space. Its premise is nothing revolutionary in the gaming world, but its true purpose is. Everyone who plays “Genes in Space” aids in a quest—not to find element alpha, but instead the gene mutations that cause breast cancer. Hannah Keartland, citizen science programme manager at Cancer Research UK, believes the mobile game is the first of its kind.
The game was created from the DNA microarray data found in a breast cancer trial by Carlos Calda for Cancer Research UK’s Cambridge Institute. They appear to the player by way of clusters of dots on the route mapping graph and purple clouds of element alpha in space.
By taking part in both game elements, the player locates genetic data that veer from the standard pattern—which could indicate genetic faults that cause cancer. The results are then sent as data files to scientists, which direct them to the areas that need further investigation.“The human eye is very good at spotting patterns and anomalies—much better than computers,” explains Ms Keartland.
The app was created after Cancer Research UK’s resounding success two years ago with their first attempt to crowd-source data: “Cell Slider”. This interactive website taught players basic pathology before guiding them through an investigation of real tumour samples. It helped to analyse data six-times faster than scientists could working alone.
“Genes in Space” has had encouraging results too. Since its release, it has been played for more than 53,000 hours—equivalent to more than six months of cancer research. Four weeks after it appeared, the charity reported that its players had made 1.5m classifications—the analysis of a length of DNA that spans the English Channel twice. (By contrast, it took scientists working alone more than a decade for faulty BRAF genes to be declared responsible for many Melanoma skin cancers.)
Entertaining elements suffered as a result of the game’s role in aiding cancer research according to CEO of Guerilla Tea, Mark Hastings. But with countless game apps available today, having this hook will likely mean that “Genes in Space” maintains a following for longer than apps without helpful outcomes.
But when using untrained and unknown individuals to do scientific work, there is always the possibility of error, which is why each sample in the game is analysed by many players—slowing down the process a bit. This also suggests why there is a limit to the types of research projects that people can help with through a game format.
According to Mr Hastings, there are likely other types of data analysis within research that could benefit from games that crowd-source real-life data. “But until scientists come forward to tell us that, I’m afraid there’s not a huge amount we can do about it,” he admits. Fortunately though, "Genes in Space" has already allowed breast cancer research to be taken light-years ahead.
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