Now, through a new research alliance, the University of Illinois and Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic say they're poised to help advance the concept of personalized medicine, in which treatments are customized to each person's own unique genetic makeup.
An agreement formalizing the new research alliance was signed recently, the UI and Mayo Clinic announced Tuesday.
"The University of Illinois has well-recognized capabilities in basic and computational sciences, genomics, bioengineering and technology generally," said Lawrence Schook, director of the UI division of biomedical sciences. "When combined with Mayo's outstanding capabilities across the spectrum of biomedical research and clinical practice, this yields an alliance with enormous potential to transform medicine."
Eric Wieben, director of the Mayo Clinic Advanced Genomics Technology Center, said what makes the new alliance exciting is that the UI and Mayo Clinic have enough overlap in research capabilities to communicate well, but each also has some unique strengths.
[page]
Personalized medicine will be one area of emphasis, he said. This concept is already being used successfully in some pharmaceutical applications.
"What we'll be seeing over the next five to 20 years is increasing application of these principals to the care of every patient," Wieben said. "So the time is really ripe right now to try and speed the implementation of this technology to patient care."
Another significant focus of the new research partnership, Wieben said, is the development of better point-of-care diagnostics meaning that rather than sending a sample off to a lab and waiting a few days, the doctor and patient would have an answer when the sample is collected.
Several joint research projects are already in progress and more are being planned, UI and Mayo officials said. A committee is being formed to oversee the research alliance, and all projects will require joint collaboration.
The two institutions also said they expect to sustain the alliance financially with federal grants, donations and some entrepreneurial projects involving commercialization of intellectual property and corporate partners.
The UI also recently formalized a research agreement with Carle Foundation Hospital and its doctors, and that will continue.
"The idea is to extend the circle of partners in different focus areas and work with different institutions," Rashid Bashir, director of the UI Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. "We certainly see this as not exclusive but as an inclusive network of partners."
Carle currently has 46 collaborative research projects under way with the UI, Carle CEO Dr. Jim Leonard said.
"I congratulate the UI and Mayo, and I think this is really exciting for the community and all of us that both organizations are reaching out. This should benefit all of us," he said.
While the formal research agreements the UI has with Carle and Mayo are separate, Leonard said, "I'd anticipate and hope that we would collaborate on a number of projects."
Leonard said there's not much personalized medicine being practiced today, and the dream is to have more of it.
"It has great promise, but realize that sometimes knowing that you have the risk of something doesn't help you sleep better at night. It's also very expensive to develop. The initial costs are pretty staggering. Eventually, it will come, but it will take time."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To see more of The News-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.news-azette.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Can New Medical Alliance Help To Personalize Medicine?Originally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/14311-can-new-medical-alliance-help-to-personalize-medicine
View this post on my blog: http://travelnursesuccess.com/can-new-medical-alliance-help-to-personalize-medicine
No comments:
Post a Comment