Personalized Medicine – Precision, Patients and Promises in 2019
The field of personalized medicine continues to grow year-on-year, with the development of new precision drugs, clinical trials and direct-to-consumer tests. This list features some of our favorite coverage of personalized medicine in 2019 published on Technology Networks.
Concepts and Promises of Personalized Medicine
This handy infographic introduces the key concepts of personalized medicine:
- What is it and why do we need it?
- What is driving its development?
- What would it look like in an ideal world?
Click here to discover the answers to these questions.
Gene Interactions Hold the Key to Unlocking Personalized Medicine
Credit: Raamesh Deshpande
Despite it seeming like personalized medicine based on our genome was in the very-near future after the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, this has turned out to be much more complicated. Researchers now believe that understanding the complex interactions between genes is the key to unlocking this potential.
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One Step Closer to Personalized Crohn's Treatment
Credit: Pixabay
A collaboration between the University of Exeter, Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and the Wellcome Sanger Institute discovered a genetic variant carried by 40% of the population, that could explain why some patients with Crohn’s disease become resistant to commonly used treatments.
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Chronologically, I'm 23, But Biologically – I'm 26
Credit: Burst
Direct-to-consumer genomic tests have hit the headlines in recent years, but attention has now turned to the epigenome. The epigenome can change throughout our life and can be reflective of what we eat and drink, whether we exercise and the environment around us.
Our Genomics Editor Molly Campbell took an epigenetic test to see what information can be gleaned from the epigenome, with some unexpected results.
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“Digital Twins” Could Be a Route to Personalized Medicine
Credit: Magnus Johansson
Creating a computer model of an individual patient’s disease could allow their treatment to be more personalized. Using this “digital twin”, clinicians could identify the best avenue of treatment before giving it to the patient. Scientists from Linkӧping University investigated this possibility in mice.
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Personalized Medicine and Cancer
Although personalized medicine holds the potential to advance many fields of research, there is one in particular it could revolutionize – cancer. By combining genomic, clinical and diagnostic information, cancer risk determination, diagnosis and treatment could all be individualized.
Download our infographic, Personalized Medicine and Cancer, to find out more.
Whole-exome Sequencing at the Dawn of Personalized Medicine
Credit: iStock
This article explores the potential of whole-exome sequencing (WES) in personalized medicine, including the technology at the core of WES, data analysis bottlenecks and its possible future as a diagnostic tool.
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Tiny Lab-grown Tumors Could Help Identify Personalized Cancer Treatments
Credit: Pixabay
Scientists have established a new method – using patients' own cells to create tumor organoids – to quickly screen hundreds of drugs in order to identify treatments that can target specific tumors.
This approach could help scientists understand how a tumor might respond to a certain treatment regimen, particularly in patients with rare and hard-to-treat cancers.
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