Smartphone gamers have helped Cancer Research UK shorten the time it takes to analyse DNA for signs of cancer from six months to one.
Last month, Cancer Research UK launched smartphone game Play to Cure: Genes in Space. While the game looks much like a shoot 'em up in space, it actually analyses DNA for signs of cancer. Players have to guide a spaceship through an asteroid belt to collect cargo called "Element Alpha".
Cancer Research UK's scientists must decode vast amounts of data to discover cancer-causing genetic faults in order to develop new targeted treatments for patients. But the human eye is needed to spot patterns in the data computers aren't precise enough. And it would take scientists years to do this manually diverting their time from other essential research.
Each time gamers play the game they analyse the DNA of one chromosome one classification about 0.002km of DNA. With the thousands of people playing the game, and analysing DNA at the same time, there have been 1.5 million classifications through the game from players in almost every country in the world in just one month.
Players have collectively dedicated more than 53,000 hours six and a half years to playing the game and analysed around half the data from the first research project. Normally it would take one scientist eight hours a day, five days a week to examine 1.5 million chromosomes at rate of 50 chromosomes an hour.
The data analysed comes from 2,000 breast cancer patients from three hospitals in the UK and two in Canada.
"We're astounded by this fantastic support from citizen scientists across the world which goes to show you don't need to wear a lab coat to be a hero," said Hannah Keartland, Cancer Research UK's citizen science lead.
"It's crucial we don't stop here because the more people who play in their spare moments, the quicker we'll make a difference.
"It's still early days but we believe the collective force of global gamers could have a massive impact and speed up our life-saving research."
Professor Carlos Caldas, senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge, said: "We're incredibly grateful to everyone who is giving their spare moments to help us analyse genetic data.
"We're working hard to develop better drugs, improve the diagnosis of cancer patients and understand why some treatments work and others won't to spare unpleasant side-effects.
"Computers can't analyse our research data with 100 per cent accuracy we need the human eye for greater precision. It can take us years to decode the huge amounts of data generated by research. But with everyone's help, the boost to our work could be enormous."
The app is available to download for iOS and Android devices.
