Follow
According to an announcement made Monday, the web search giant’s research arm into health and medicine Google Life Sciences gets an antiquated moniker: Verily.
The new word, which means ‘truly,’ features in 13th Century English literature including William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII play. ‘Verily,’ however, is still present in King James version of the Bible in our days.
The move may come as a surprise because a future-oriented division gets an outdated name. But chief executive Andy Conrad explained that the new name marks a shift from conventional approach of medicine also known as intervention to a more proactive approach which focuses on prevention.
Conrad also believes that only the truth would help us defeat nature.
Branding experts, however, said that in our times the antiquated new moniker could be associated with the Bible alone. Yet, the new name may mean that customers can trust Verily team and their research, if Google delivers its promises.
Kristen Pembroke, a branding expert from an Oakland-based company, believes that the new word is more approachable than Google Life Sciences and easier to pronounce. On the other hand, people may find the new brand name at least bizarre because ‘verily’ rhymes with ‘merrily,’ for example.
Verily is a research department that focuses on health and disease prevention. Its team consists in engineers, biochemists, doctors, and even a philosopher, because the why-s behind people behavior is as important to prevention as medical research is.
Google Life Sciences team was behind the contact lens that can track glucose levels in diabetics’ tears. The division also conducts research on health conditions that affect quality of life of millions of people in the developed world such as cancer, heart disease, obesity and mental health issues.
It currently plans to design other wearables that can assist patients and make their lives easier such as a tool that uses nanoparticles to diagnose cancer in its earliest stages.
Dr. Jessica Mega of Verily team explained that the department runs data mining projects to boost prevention. Verily thinks that disease can be prevented if we understand human behavior, family history, genes, and biological markers. The final goal is to create customized treatments that meet every patient’s needs.
Although the ambitions are high, Verily team is not that large – about a few hundred people work for the department, but they also collaborate with fellow researchers form big pharma companies and universities. For instance, Verily recently closed a deal with Novartis to monetize the recently released contact lens.
Image Source: Flickr
