IMPPC Fundación Institut de Medicina Predictiva i Personalitzada del Càncer

The Human Genome Project: One Small Step Towards Genetic Medicine

The discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and the chemical basis of heredity by Watson and Crick in the 1950s heralded a new era of advances in medical science, an era that culminated in the sequencing of the human genome in 2000. But this triumph was just the end of the beginning.  The impact of  the advances in genetics on medical practice is huge and how to use this knowledge to provide better therapies continues to be one of the greatest challenges remaining.

In the very near future the human genome sequence and its variants will be a fundamental tool for identifying genes that play a role in the genetic transmission of common diseases, and the genetic variations that confer variation in the risk of developing these diseases.  The interaction between all these variants and the environment make their identification an extremely difficult task.

The IMPPC challenges

• Advances in areas such as Genomics, Epigenomics and Proteomics are fundamental to increase our knowledge of their impact on human health.  The rapid progress of these disciplines, coupled with the availability of technology able to process vast quantities of information are allowing us to detect changes in genes that give us information about the susceptibility of an individual of suffering a disease.
• The study of pharmacogenomics is bringing about a paradigm change in the development of new drugs.  The idea of a drug useful for large sectors of the population is now being replaced by  that of the personalized design of medicines.  In this new phase it will be possible to prescribe the right drug in the correct dose for each individual patient.
• A knowledge of genetic susceptibilities to developing certain diseases prepares the way for a change in focus in medical practice in a way that the emphasis on diagnosis and treatment will slowly give way to a new era in which predication and prevention are the key players.
• This knowledge will probably allow the detection of disease in the pre-symptomatic phases and, in the case that the illness appears, will allow for it to be treated more efficiently and in a safer way.
• The combination of knowledge and technological advances is making Predictive and Personalized Medicine possible.

A Network of Collaboration

The IMPPC is located next the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital (HUGTiP), the teaching hospital of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)(Autonomous University of Barcelona).

The HUGTiP is a high technology hospital serving 700,000 inhabitants in the area.  It is a reference hospital in Catalonia for several pathologies.
The IMPPC works closely with the public hospital network in Catalonia, especially with the hospital centres of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, centre of reference for oncological health care in Catalonia.

The IMPPC forms part of a program of research centres of the Generalitat de Catalonia (CERCA).

The IMPPC is developing collaboration agreements with national and international centres.

The IMPPC works with national and international universities and research centres on pure and applied research into cancer.