NBDriver

Context

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed an Artificial Intelligence-based mathematical model called NBDriver (neighbourhood driver) to identify cancer-causing alterations in cells.

About

• In this study, the main goal was to discover patterns in the DNA sequences -- made up of four letters, or bases, A, T, G and C surrounding a particular site of alteration.
• The underlying hypothesis was that these patterns would be unique to individual types of mutations -- drivers and passengers.

Driver Mutation

• A driver mutation is an alteration that gives a cancer cell a fundamental growth advantage for its neoplastic transformation.

Passenger mutations

• Passenger mutations can be defined as mutations that do not directly drive cancer initiation and progression, as opposed to driver mutations, such as mutations in oncogenes, TSGs or repair genes.

To know about Mutation, Visit: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/bengal-strain-all-about-mutation

https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/governance/iit-madras-develops-an-ai-algorithm-to-spot-cancer-causing-mutations/84342225