18 March 2013

Personalized Medicine World Conference Highlights

Here are some highlights from this year's January 28-29 Personalized Medicine World Conference presentations (all content credited to presentation authors listed):



1. Genome Hacking by Yaniv Erlich
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Science 18 January 2013: Vol. 339 no. 6117 pp. 321-324 DOI: 10.1126/science.122956

Identifying Personal Genomes by Surname Inference
Abstract
Sharing sequencing data sets without identifiers has become a common practice in genomics. Here, we report that surnames can be recovered from personal genomes by profiling short tandem repeats on the Y chromosome (Y-STRs) and querying recreational genetic genealogy databases. We show that a combination of a surname with other types of metadata, such as age and state, can be used to triangulate the identity of the target. A key feature of this technique is that it entirely relies on free, publicly accessible Internet resources. We quantitatively analyze the probability of identification for U.S. males. We further demonstrate the feasibility of this technique by tracing back with high probability the identities of multiple participants in public sequencing projects.

2. Mara G. Aspinall President and CEO, Ventana Medical Systems




3. Lee Hood, President, Co-founder Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle Systems Medicine, Proactive P4 Medicine and New and Emerging Technologies 

P4 medicine captures the strategic aspects (predictive and preventive), the personalized aspect and the transformational participatory aspect of the revolution in medicine.

•Predictive
•Probabilistic health history
•DNA sequence & Regular multi-parameter (blood) measurements
•Preventive
•Design of therapeutic and preventive drugs/vaccines via systems approaches
•Wellness
•Personalized
•Unique individual human genetic variation mandates individual treatment
•Patient will be their own control for longitudinal (life long) data analyses
•Participatory:
•Patient-driven social networks for disease and wellness will be a driving force in P4 medicine
•Society must access patient data and make it available to biologists for pioneering predictive medicine of the future
•How does one educate patients, physicians and the healthcare community about P4?
•IT for healthcare

Novel and Emerging Technologies
•3rd generation DNA sequencing—nanopore/nanochannel, single molecule, electronic detection (long reads, detect epigenetic marks, simple sample preparation, throughput)
•Global mass spectrometry proteome analyses (SWATH) and the ability to identify isoforms arising from mutation, splicing, editing, processing and chemical modification
•Protein-capture agents—for sensitive protein quantification
•Molecular and cellular identifications, quantifications and interactions with microfluidics/nanotechnology platforms
•Single-cell highly multiplexed omic and phenotypic analyses—detecting quantized cell populations
•Imaging—in vivo molecular analyses for interactions as well as temporal and spatial dynamics
•Analytical tools—data integration, multi-scale modeling, predictive and actionable models


4. Stem Cells Ushering in Personalized Medicine Deepak Srivastava, MD Director, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Roddenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone Professor, UCSF
Regeneration of Damaged Organs a Reality
–Personalized Stem Cell Transplants
–Harnessing Organ’s Own Cells for Regeneration
•Personalized Medicine – Drugs Tested on Your Cells
•Pharmaceutical Industry Rejuvenated
–Drug Discovery on Human Relevant Cells
–Clinical Trial in a Dish
•Efficacy and Toxicity on Personalized Human Cells
•Health Care Costs – Bending the Cost Curve?


5. Lawrence Corey, MD President and Director Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Adoptive Immunotherapy and Cancer Vaccines Complimentary Approaches

Adoptive T-Cell Therapy For Cancer (Melanoma, Leukemia, Sarcoma) 
•Process takes 4 – 10 weeks!
•Costs approximately $25,000 – 50,000/patient for cell expansion