Cancer and the PageRank Algorithm
Google’s PageRank algorithm is a key source of the company’s search results page, named after co-founder Larry Page. As it turns out, the algorithm invented for this cause can be applied to areas outside of simply search. Metastasis, or the spread of cancer, is very similar to the spread of information. Therefore, researchers in the oncology space are now finding ways to apply Google’s PageRank algorithm to find a cause of cancer. The way in which this works is the researchers will find data from autopsy reports for cancer patients, and determine a path to determine insights into where the cancer is headed. Similar to Google’s methodology of determining where you could potentially go using Markov chains, the researchers knew where the cancer did go to and can deduce how exactly it ended up there. Hence, the reverse process. Through this information, researchers can have a better idea of where the spread of cancer’s origins are and therefore provide a better diagnosis.
This article applies directly to our in-class discussions about PageRank and how it can be applied in a variety of contexts outside of search results. Researchers, primarily at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering are interested in finding the connection, and have partnered with various physical science institutions in order to facilitate this new line of research. As mathematician Newton says, “Computer simulations and models will never take the place of clinical trials, but it certainly would be useful to be able to design trials so that they have optimal bang-for-buck impact.” Overall, this new line of research is being investigated in a variety of institutions and proves the extent of the PageRank algorithm to have impact outside of the searching space.