Chemistry on the Web: How Can we Crowdsource Chemistry to Solve Important Problems?

Google Tech Talk
April 6, 2010

ABSTRACT

Presented by Dr Matthew Todd, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney.

Open Science: how can we crowdsource chemistry to solve important problems?

Science shaped itself in the founding days of learned societies: individuals or teams competed, in secret, with paper-based communication in subscription journals. Why are we all still doing science like this? The internet has had a major impact in our sharing of data by traditional means, but it has not yet radically changed the way we actually perform science.

My lab is involved in a new project a government/WHO-funded research project that is completely open, where we are trying to solve a serious problem in public health through basic research in organic chemistry. The project involves a wonder drug used to treat a tropical disease but we need to improve it, and fast:

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100204/full/news.2010.50.html

With an eye on the bigger issue, we propose open methods can allow science to happen faster than traditional means, but we do not yet have the tools to make this happen. This talk is about hard science and soft human nature. It is also an appeal for decent tools scientists need to collaborate properly. The over-riding requirement: low barrier to entry.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• google
• tech
• talk
• education
• tropical
• disease

[GuzmanTierno]

very interesting, thank you.

[aoholcombe]

Very nice talk!

[adelle0001]

nice video!

[TheLycaeum]

Academia can address the problem at 20:00 to 22:00, since making something significantly cheaper means to find a new access to it, which always is a scientific frontier (and the figure he presents doesn't apply to rethinking the whole thing). I once knew somebody who was working on making cancer medication cheaper using biotechnology. He died of cancer early and his work was put to a grinding halt. Pharma wants expensive medication for chronic diseases, not cheap cures for the poor.

[oanezzaa]

i like to know if it's hard to be a chemist,anyone??

[mogden]

43:19 HAY WHO TURNED THE CAMERA ON IM TRYING TO EAT MY SCHWARMA

[aiava]

@EndeligHelg he invaded the talk!! obviously ;D

[MatToddChem]

By the way, if an hour is too much there's a 5-minute version. Google "open science ignite sydney" For the open scientist in a hurry...

[MatToddChem]

@EndeligHelg I don't know. He wasn't there when I gave the talk. :)

[EndeligHelg]

ROFL @ 43:00.. What the hell is that Asian kid doing there?

[DJControllerC]

@Dottyeyes the analagy that comes to my mind is online forums- they have been ground breaking for me- because even if one poster gives bad onfo- this is usually caught in the same thread- and you can cross reference info and see how often it pops up- this gives you often or almost always a very good idea how reliable info is before you apply it- forums are now including photos and links to videos confirming the accuracy or innacuracy of data presented in a forum- its a remarkable thing

[Dottyeyes]

@Dottyeyes : by "lucrative" I mean in the way that gmail eventually became commercially lucrative for Google, but also in the collaborative, scientific discoveries that might happen.