[OLPC library] 'OLPC-Health' takes off !!- MATLAB for OLPC?

[Benjamin M. Schwartz]

On Mon, 2008-01-28 at 08:34 -0700, Brown, Henry, DoIT wrote:

> Could Matlab create Greene Chip DNA microarray software to run on
> OLPC? 
> http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/news/Lipkin_GreeneChip.html
> http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=2573
> http://laptop.org/
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080121100909.htm
>  
> If the MATLAB software could run on OLPC it could be used to monitor
> disease in the field.
> I worked with AIDS patients and child nutrition programs while in the
> Peace Corps.
> We saw kids die every week from RSV and dehydration caused by
> diarrhea.
> We did not know what antibiotic to give.
> OLPC could use MATLAB software to integrate DNA array results to
> diagnosis.
> An expert system similar to Mycin could then be used to diagnose
> disease in the field via the web.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycin

Creating new software to read and analyze DNA microarrays is not hard.
MATLAB is not required.  If you can make the case for microarray
analysis, appropriate software can be created easily enough.

However, reading a microarray typically requires a high-resolution
digital fluorescence microscope, which is very expensive.  Therefore,
any clinic that can make use of this technology is likely to be able to
afford more appropriate dedicated computing hardware than the XO.

--Ben Schwartz