DNA 'Hackathon' Looks for Cure of Man's Rare Cancer

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Bill Paseman has two choices for treating his rare and deadly kidney cancer: do nothing or let 200 scientists from around the world analyze his DNA to uncover clues for promising new treatments. That's because there are no effective treatments for his late-stage papillary renal-cell carcinoma type 1. Little is known about the genetic drivers of papillary renal-cell carcinomas, which account for just 15 to 20 percent of adult kidney cancers. And because the patient market is small, pharmaceutical companies don't focus on the condition. So this past weekend, 150 computational biologists, geneticists, oncologists, artificial intelligence researchers, and computer developers from top universities gathered to analyze the genomes of Paseman's kidney tumor and his blood – with Paseman present.