According to Genome Health Solutions cofounder Mark S. Boguski, MD, PhD, FCAP, Harvard Medical School’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, at this point in time, the promise of genomics lies “not so much in therapeutics or disease prevention, but in precision diagnostics that will really enable personalized medicine.”
Dr Boguski and his cofounder Richard Kellner have set the goal for their new company to provide genomic-related management services and technological/biological know-how to the healthcare industry, with the intent “to finally bring the benefits of genomics to patients.” The center’s mission is “to accelerate the translation of genome science and technologies into cost-effective health services.” The center will focus on cancer as the key to the science of personalized medicine.
Dr Boguski, who had participated in the Human Genome Project, suggests that genomic medicine is now “in the third wave, which is that precision diagnostics will lead to better outcomes. If we can understand in any given tumor which genes are the driver mutations—not just on average for a population, but in that individual patient—we can use advanced multiplex technologies to get that information. That opens up the possibility for more targeted therapy, which you expect would be more effective.” Insight & Intelligence; July 3, 2012
