Recently, co-launched by Thousand Talents, a journal designated by the national "The Thousand Talents Program", Shanghai Oracle Bay and the party committee and government of Bengbu City, the "2015 Conference on Big Data Technology and Industrial Application" was held grandly in Bengbu of Anhui which is reputed as a "City of Pearls". Around 30 experts of the said national " The Thousand Talents Program" from the field of big data were invited to the event, who discussed the application and challenges of big data technology and looked into the trend of combination of big data and industries.

Dr. Sheng Sitong, president of Shenzhen HYK Research Institute of High-throughput Technology, was invited to the event to chair the high-end interview on "big data and medical industry" and a forum on "development of big data and medical industry" and gave a wonderful speech on the topic of "precision medicine in the era of big gene data", and staged heated discussions with the experts at the site on the development of big data and medical industry.

In the high-end interview on "big data and medical industry" held in the afternoon, as the chairperson, Dr. Sheng and experts from the medical industry together answered questions concerning the application and development of big data in the medical industry for the attendees.

The high-end forum on "big data and medical industry" presided over by Dr. Sheng

On the morning of the next day, in the forum on "development of big data and medical industry", Dr. Sheng was also invited as the chairperson to discuss and analyze the development of big data in medical industry with experts from related sectors and also gave a wonderful speech titled "Precision Medicine in the Era of Big Gene Data".

He pointed out, the core big data in the medical field mainly include R&D data, diagnosis and treatment data, medical insurance data and behavior and sense data of patients. With the development of clinical detection technology, big data also keeps growing in the medical field and has reached a level of ZB. As the smallest functional fragment among the genetic substances of human body, gene guides the synthesis of protein and guides all vital movements of human body. In the lifetime of a person, the size of data regarding his genome, transcriptome, phenome and metagenome and external environment can exceed 10TB. Therefore, more new breakthroughs can be achieved in the medical field if big data can be mined from the level of gene.

Dr. Sheng Sitong lectured on "Precision Medicine in the Era of Big Gene Data"

He particularly stressed that the medicine has its own development rule and pattern. With the development of gene sequencing technology, reduction of sequencing costs and progressing of data analysis methods, precision medicine has gradually become an emerging method for prevention and treatment of diseases.

The realization of precision medicine still requires the support of big gene data. The precondition to big gene data is the new generation high-throughput sequencing technology. The PSTAR high-throughput gene sequencing technology of HYK has passed the review and approval of CFDA and won a registration certificate for medical devices through independent innovation. Characteristic of accuracy, fastness and flexibility, the technology can provide precision medicine with a strong guarantee.

Dr. Sheng also pointed out, big gene data can be applied in prediction, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. A more precise molecular sub-typing can be realized on tumor by combining high-throughput gene sequencing technology and big data application, so as to provide reference for developing a precise treatment plan for tumor patients, such as the use of targeted drug for EGFR mutation.

Moreover, genetic background of individual genes can be acquired through the technology, so that the susceptibility degree of individuals to a disease can be identified. For example, BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes related with the hereditary breast/oval cancer syndrome (HBOC). The mutation status of the two genes of breast cancer patients or high risk groups are detected with the technology, which can accurately and comprehensively judge the gene mutation of the tested group and effectively guide the early intervention to tumor.

Dr. Sheng also mentioned that the integration and application of big gene data and the new generation high-throughput sequencing technology will promote the rapid development of precision medicine. However, big gene data is also faced with some challenges, such as the high requirements on information storage technology, transmission technology and analytical technology with the rapid growth of gene data size.