Exciting news this week: IBM is making Watson for Genomics publicly available through a partnership with Quest Diagnostics.

Here is the press release issued by IBM, along with the Watson for Genomics home page and a write-up by Fortune magazine.

Quoting IBM’s press release:

The treating oncologist or other physician will send a patient’s solid tumor biopsy tissue to Quest Diagnostics, where pathologists will prepare the tissue sample for genomic sequencing. Scientists at Quest will then sequence the treatment-associated genes using advanced next-generation sequencing technologies and feed the genetic file into Watson. Watson will then use the sequenced genetic data and compare those data against massive bodies of clinical, scientific and pharmacological databases to help uncover potential therapeutic options that match the patient’s tumor mutations. A Quest pathologist will review and validate the results and prepare a report to send back to the treating physician.

DISCLAIMER: I work for IBM, but not in any of the Watson units. I derive no benefit whatsoever by posting these links.  I am sharing this publicly available information in the simple hope it may benefit someone who is suffering from cancer.