It seems Google is not just into expanding their hold on the techie world, they have time for other things too. The Google Life Sciences unit of Alphabet Inc., together with the American Heart Association, has announced that they have collaborated on a 5 year 50 million USD research project for finding new ways to combat heart disease. (Alphabet Inc. is Google's mother company if you haven't already known that.)

This research which will be done by a single team and is specifically intended to deal with bringing new approaches to research into the prevention, causes, and treatment of heart diseases. With each party contributing half of the total amounts for the project, the group will also be composed of members from both sides.

According to Google Life Sciences' chief executive officer Andrew Conrad, who is also a molecular biologist; heart disease is the world's top killer. He further adds that it seems that the problem needs to be dealt with disruptive, unconventional thinking and a new innovation since the progress is slow. According to Conrad, Google is aiming for a cure. Even though success is not guaranteed, he promises that they will try and work harder.

The group behind the project is also planning to select an individual that will head the initiative by early next year. The leader could be anybody, and the selection of the leader will depend on the individual's skills and the ideas that he/she can contribute. Basically, according to Conrad, what they are looking for is a maverick.

Nancy Brown, the heart association's CEO further adds that we live in an era today with resources that haven't been available until today. Further adding that a project like this won't even be possible a couple of years ago.

The announcement of the project last Sunday at the AHA's annual scientific meeting comes as an example of Google's newest venture into life-sciences research. The venture follows Google's launch of their "baseline study" last year. The study deals with collecting individuals' genetic and physical traits data to be able to describe what a healthy human being is supposed to be.