Personalized Medicine Conference Recap

February 6, 2010

Genetics and pharmacogenomics took center stage at the Personalized Medicine World Conference in Mountain View, CA.

A larger part of the discussion was centered around how we will collect, handle, standardize, store and process all the information on each of us for healthcare.

Attendees were an interesting mix of angel investors, academics, representatives from governmental agencies, institutional investors, pharma, information technologists, bioethicists, hospitals, patients and consultants. Currently, the field of personalized medicine is a mix of all these players, looking for the next healthcare technology play.

Large IT companies that wouldn’t normally be thought of as healthcare attended, IBM and Dell both gave talks. A major focus for the IT companies were EHR‘s or Electronic Health Records. As the types of data multiplies, a way to handle digitized X-rays, test results, prescriptions and clinician notes will need to be found and integrated. For a savvy technologist who can understand what kinds of information clinicians/doctors need at a glance, there is a definite business opportunity.

One point of note, Dr. Amos from NIST stated governmental agencies have a vested interest in making sure biological test results have standards- so your results from one lab will be able to be interpreted by any doctor down the line. Coming up with these standards will likely be a long process involving both government, healthcare workers and industry.

Contributed by Chia Hwu, follow me on Twitter @chiah.

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Posted by Chia Hwu

Mello Biotech’s Tech Can Create Stem Cells

February 6, 2010

Mello Biotech, providers of a potential method for creating stem cells, had a booth on the expo floor at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute‘s 17th International Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference.

The basic idea is to introduce microRNA into a mature cell and reprogramming it to a stem cell state, capable of becoming any other kind of cell. The claim is that this process can create stem cells with as few as 400 mature cells (approximately the number in a hair follicle). The technology Mello Biotech uses is electroporation to deliver the microRNA into a cell, removing the need for a viral vector to deliver RNA.

There has been work done with creating stem cells with retroviruses mediating the RNA transfer; the concern is that viral gene insertion could  be random and disrupt normal functioning of the cells.

So far, the company claims that they have created all three types of cells from the different layers of skin from a stem cell created through their process. The challenge will be to create other types of cells (kidney, liver, heart, nerve etc.) from stem cells created through this process.

If this technology is as efficient as the company claims and these cells can be used in treatment, stem cell therapy will be a reality.

Contributed by Chia Hwu, follow me on Twitter @chiah.

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Posted by Chia Hwu

Genetics and Pharmacogenomics Takes Center Stage at Personalized Medicine World Conference 2010

January 20, 2010

Yesterday was the first day of Personalized Medicine World Conference, Silicon Valley.

The most surprising part of the line up of 13 speakers is that 9 of them talked about genetics or pharmacogenomics, topics that would have been mentioned briefly, if at all, even 5 years ago. The promise of personalized medicine is that we will be able to determine from someone’s DNA which drugs are appropriate in what dose to be effective.

A good deal of the focus was on how to handle genetic information in a clinical setting, with doctors who may not have the training in genetics.

Another theme for the talks was the decreasing cost of getting genetic information on a patient and how this can drive clinical decisions. The ultimate dream is to be able to test a patient’s genetic data, get an almost instantaneous read out and treat appropriately.

Some highlights:

  1. Scott Jenkins, Ph.D. from Dell Healthcare & Life Sciences talked about the challenge of storing a terabyte of DNA data per patient and the challenge that presents.
  2. Russ Altman, Ph.D. showed off his web PharmGKB project curating and cataloging pharmacogenomic data. Vance Vanier, MD of Navigenics talked very frankly about how in order for genetic data to be useful, it must be brought into clinical practice.
  3. Elizabeth Mansfield, Ph.D. spoke about the changes happening at the FDA surrounding regulations as it pertains to personalized medicine, in her words, “Policies were not written with personalized medicine in mind, we are trying to find the best pathway forward.”

Looking forward to the more consumer/patient talks today.

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Posted by Chia Hwu

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