App to benefit cancer research

Cancer researchers are to benefit from an app which crunches data while smartphone owners sleep. The Dreamlab app, developed by the Vodafone Foundation, uses the collective power of a network of phones to analyse huge amounts of information in a much shorter space of time.

The technology will be used by researchers from Imperial College London hoping to identify how existing and new drugs can be used to treat cancer.

The project, Drug Repositioning Using Grids of Smartphones (DRUGS), marks the official launch of the app in the UK and its first collaboration with a UK university. It previously launched in Australia.

Star Wars actor John Boyega is among those encouraging the public to get involved by downloading the app.