IMPPC Fundación Institut de Medicina Predictiva i Personalitzada del Càncer

6.    How will the IMPPC advance progress towards Predictive and PersonalizedMedicine?

 
 The first publication of the map of the human genome in the year 2003 provided a huge quantity of new information about the structure of the genome.  The IMPPC will contribute directly to the publication of information regarding the function of the genome.  Research will be carried out to identify and validate specific therapeutic leads and new molecular markers.  Investigators will use state-of-the-art technology, benefiting from high resolution and high through-put equipment to provide information about genetic variations and their consequences.  This research will call for the use of tools such as genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics.  The effective use of these tools requires specialists skilled in different fields including physics, chemistry, biology and computational science.  The information gained will permit the future development of diagnostic tools, therapeutic techniques and knowledge of how genetic profile affects the response of individuals to their application.

Researchers at the IMPPC will also be working closely with epidemiologists and studying material from tissue banks.  A DNA bank will be established for the local population, which will lay the foundations for a valuable resource in the future.

Much of the current model of medicine is based on a system of trial and error, which is both costly to providers and frustrating for the recipients.  The human genome project has not only provided a vast quantity of information, where only small pieces were known before, but it has also accelerated the technological advances required to produce much larger quantities of data in much a shorter time.  At the start of the 21^st century, those engaged in basic and applied research into how and why diseases such as cancers develop can see a real possibility of moving to a new model in which knowledge about the genome of an individual and knowledge about the genetic changes that take place during the disease process can be combined to design a specific treatment.  In short, this knowledge will allow personalized medicine to become a reality.

The IMPPC will employ interdisciplinary teams to work on specific problems concerning the genetic changes that take place during the disease process.  Knowledge sharing, the new technologies and the latest tools available to researchers in this post Human Genome Project period are key features of the work.  At the same time the institute will be taking an active part in training young professionals to use these tools.  In this way it will contribute not only key knowledge and technological platforms but also future technicians, researchers and doctors qualified to work in a health system that will be moving towards a personalized model.