Predictive Health Initiative
Emory University and Georgia Tech have joined together to create the Predictive Health Initiative – predictive medicine involving cutting-edge patient care that incorporates:
- Genetics
- Nanotechnology
- Information Technology
- Proteomics
- Epigenetics
- Bioinformatics
- Computational biology
Core concepts of the Predictive Health Initiative:
1. Diseases are caused by defective genes or outside stimuli, such as infectious agents or environmental toxins.
2. Biomarkers are secreted into blood or other body fluids and make a “molecular fingerprint” that can be measured.
3. Diagnostic tools measuring biomarkers can help predict the development of disease.
- Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) to detect prostate cancer.
- C-reactive protein (CRP) levels to signal vulnerability to heart attack
4. Preventive medicine will map each patient’s genome and measures the full array of biomarkers.
5. Individually tailored pharmaceuticals can be administered before disease symptoms surface.
“For the first time in history, we have the opportunity to define health as something other than the absence of disease,” said Dr. Kenneth Brigham, a pulmonologist and acting director of the Emory-Georgia Tech initiative. “If we knew what health was — if we could measure it — then we could intervene at the very earliest indication that you were at risk of becoming unhealthy, and restore it.”
Springfield News-Sun, December 19, 2005
Technorati Tags: personalized+medicine, health, genetics
