We often hear “Don’t take anything personally”. However, that is not the case in terms of precision medicine. In 2015, the U.S. government launched the "Precision Medicine Initiative". Since then, precision medicine has become more pervasive across the healthcare spectrum. Precision medicine is often interchangeable with the terms personalized medicine and precision health. Precision medicine aims to individualize healthcare. In this way, precision medicine can be thought of as delivering the right intervention to the right individual at the right time.
One of the biggest emerging fields related to precision medicine is genomics. Genomics is the area of genetics focusing on sequencing and monitoring individuals’ entire DNA content, or genome. Genomics aims to understand how a particular gene is affected in relation to the entire genome. On the other hand, genetics aims to understand how one gene works. Genomics has been around for a number of years, but scientists are only now gaining access to previous studies and sequenced genomes. This is due to the amount of storage required for genomic data. Cloud storage has quickly expanded the possibilities for scientists around the world to store their own studies and potentially access others. The goal of precision medicine is to treat diseases and disorders based on each person's genetic fingerprint, environment, and lifestyle. Cancer is the most advanced area of care in terms of precision medicine. Finding the key signatures of different types of cancer will help to identify better treatment for cancer patients and help stratify patients more precisely.
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is the platform of choice for genomic profiling. The days of having to run multiple single gene tests are over. You no longer have to settle for time delays and depletion of tissue. With NGS, you can assess multiple biomarkers simultaneously in a single test for a comprehensive molecular profile, all while preserving tissue and maximize amount of data for patient care. NeoGenomics offer exploratory Whole Exome Sequence (both Germline and Somatic), RNAseq for biomarkers discovery and broad big panels including the 326 Gene Discovery panel which includes targeting mutations to be frequently mutated in solid tumors with Microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutation burden (TMB) readout and it is sequenced on the NovaSeq platform. Visit NeoGenomics pharma services molecular NGS webpages to learn how NGS is helping advance precision oncology from research to reality.
We live in interesting times. This generation of scientists, clinicians and bioinformaticians will elevate the standards for diagnosis, prediction and care, ultimately improving patient outcome for millions of people.
