One of the most surprising things people find when l;earning about Autodesk and some of the projects we are involved in are the Bio/Nano research projects. Most expect Autodesk to have the cutting edge design related technology and research, but science and research that could lead to a therapy to end cancer cure is completely unexpected. We have several health science related researchers at Autodesk and we have a research lab located in our Pier 9 space in San Francisco. It is pretty inspiring as an Autodesk employee to think that Autodesk researchers could help lead to therapies that could spell the end to something that really sucks and that is the evil cancer. I am pretty certain that if you ask every person around you they have a personal story how cancer has affected them or something they now and love.
Read: Finding and Curing Cancer on a Personal Basis http://www.examiner.com/article/finding-and-curing-cancer-on-a-personal-basis
“Gene level therapies developed for one type of cancer show potential to work in a totally different cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine released an article on Oct. 29, 2015 titled DNA-Repair Defects and Olaparib in Metastatic Prostate Cancer.” The gene therapy that was developed to treat an inherited version of ovarian cancer proved marginally successful in treating metastasized prostate cancer. There are many similar gene structures in breast, ovarian and prostate cancers despite the gender differences of the patients.
These new approaches that find cancer cells earlier and the development of specific drugs to inhibit cancer growth are very promising. A study is being conducted in animal trials that uses 3D printing of DNA to repair cells and inhibit adjacent cancers. This work was led by Andrew Hessels of Autodesk. Hessels has developed and released tools to the public that will allow groups of people (crowdsourced) to develop new approaches for gene level therapies. Bloomberg published an article by Caroline Winters on March 20, 2014 titled "Andrew Hessels Autodesk Team Seeks Crowdsourced Cancer Cure".“
Attending Autodesk University in just a couple weeks and want to learn more?
The Bio/Nano Team will have a exhibit and some of our awesome scientists on hand to explain their work, why it is perfectly fit within Autodesk, and why it matters. Can you say DNA Origami, it is really a thing.
So while Autodesk does develop amazing software, we are also doing so much more that will truly help everyone Imagine Design and Create a better world hopefully free of cancer someday.
