Can dogs and AI help fight cancer? | Christina Lopes | TEDxBoston

NOTE FROM TED: We’ve flagged this talk because it falls outside the content guidelines TED gives TEDx organizers. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: This talk explores how our learnings from transforming canine cancer can inform how to transform cancer in humans- impacting both sides of the leash. Cancer is a vast unmet need for humans and also dogs. Last year 6 million dogs were diagnosed with cancer in the US, million people. Dogs and humans co-evolved, share the same environment and have significant overlap in cancer genetics. We are transforming cancer in dogs by making precision medicine that has worked in humans, accessible to dogs with cancer across 1,000 vet clinics in the US. We focus on outcomes research and have amassed 1.2 billion data points in the largest canine cancer data set in the world. Our work was peer reviewed by Nature Precision Oncology. We leverage AI to mine this data set and have found that 1) precision medicine helps dogs with cancer; 2) dogs and humans share similar prognostic biomarkers in cancer; and 3) targeted therapies that are designed for humans help dogs, opening the gateway for cancer R&D across species. AI, Animals, Cancer, Genetics, Health, Medicine Christina Lopes is CEO and Founder of the One Health Company, an AI and genomics oncology company. One Health’s novel platform, FidoCure, was validated by Nature (precision oncology) for improving canine cancer outcomes while also demonstrating that studying cancer in dogs can help advance human cancer R&D. One Health’s unique mission to fight cancer on both sides of the leash is backed by both Andreessen Horowitz (a16z bio health portfolio) and Y-Combinator. Previously, Christina was Managing Director of Cerberus Capital, a private equity firm with $50B under management. She also served as Advisory Board Director for International Planned Parenthood, which serves 30 million health services per year. The World Economic Forum at Davos recognized Lopes as a Young Global Leader and Inc. Magazine named her a Top100 Female Founder. She is listed as author of several scientific publications. Christina completed doctoral coursework at Princeton University under Dr. Cornel West and received a Masters from Columbia’s SIPA. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at