Google co-founder Sergey Brin is using a crowd-sourcing project to help find a cure for Parkinson’s disease, but some experts have said the plan is doomed from the start.
Brin, whose mother suffers from the disease and says he has a chance of contracting it himself, says 10,000 people will fill out an online survey and provide genetic scans to give medical experts clearer pictures of how the disease works.
Brin will pay for most of the research, which is expected to head into the millions.
But an associate professor Kay Double, from the Prince of Wales Medical Institute, has told News.com.au that the project is unlikely to develop a cure for the disease.
“If it was well designed, it may assist finding bio-markers or genetic markers for the disease,” Double said.
“It may find new risk factors in the environment, but it’s unlikely to find a cure. It’s going to give you an indication of why people are getting the disease.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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