PageRank treats Cancer?
Pagerank is used all over the World Wide Web, with Google as arguably the search engine whose algorithm has been the most prominent for the last decade or so. And we know that. We understand how pagerank applies to literally ranking pages. However, PageRank fascinates scientists on a completely different level. For researchers from the the Scripps Research Institute and Scripps Clinic, and the University of Southern California, PageRank has reared its head to help organize data about how cancer cells move around the body.
With the use of PageRank, these scientists have found that, as opposed to the earlier notion that cancer cells move linearly (in one direction), certain organs appear to “spread cancer cells more aggressively,” while other organs act as “sponges.” While they might grow tumors, they don’t spread cells. These researchers are quite literally trying to find the PageRank of tumors (i.e. a kidney has a higher PageRank than a liver because it’s more likely to spread cancerous cells). This shows how the World Wide Web is not the only network out there; our bodies are networks as well.
This research would help doctors prescribe better treatments, knowing where to target. But PageRank doesn’t just help with cancer research, it helps with a host of other issues as well. For example, it can track disease outbreaks back to their source, the “parent node,” if you will. Thus, we can see how PageRank is an effective tool to help organize information, not just in the online sphere but in the biological sphere as well, and these implications are massive in terms of health and prevention of disease. Google has not only helped provide scientists with an easy way to share their data online with each other, but its algorithm for PageRank has spurred new research into the way diseases work.
Google is, quite literally, helping to create miracles.
https://gigaom.com/2013/03/26/how-researchers-are-fighting-lung-cancer-using-pagerank/