If you think it's satisfying to Google your name, imagine what it's like to Google your genes. In an excerpt from his new book, The Google Story, David Vise, a Washington Post staff writer details one of the search engine's most innovative projects: genetic research. From the beginning of Google's tale, it's clear that its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page have big, big plans for their business.

According to Vise, Google aims to improve the state of medicine by enhancing the understanding of each person's exact genetic makeup. This will help medical professionals customize treatment to each patient instead of diagnosing and prescribing medication based solely on statistics or averages.

The National Human Genome Research Institute is particularly interested in Google's involvement in medicine and genetic research. Deputy Director Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher explained that the search engine's supreme computing power can be harnessed to analyze data that is too much for the average scientist in a lab.

“Until recently, the challenge has been gathering data,” Guttmacher told Vise. “Now, the bigger challenge is organizing and assessing it. Google-like approaches are the key to doing that. It completely accelerates and changes the way science is done. We are beginning to have incredible tools to understand the biology of human diseases in ways we never have before, and to come up with novel ways to prevent and treat them.”

[via Washington Post Free Registration Required]