Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
approaches are employed to understand fundamental principles in biology and
allow predictions about the functioning of, for example, the human body. These
novel approaches in biology create a demand for software solutions and compu-
tational power that is unprecedented and will become a new driver for innovation
in the information and communication technologies [ 4 ].
The transfer of these innovative technologies from molecular biology to the
medical field caused a paradigm shift and opened the route for a new medicine.
With the first draft of the human genome and the subsequent technological
development the tools are now available to create a fundamental understanding of
diseases in light of this molecular information. Also the entire field of human
diagnostics is changing according to the tools that are available today [ 5 ]. This
newly available spectrum of diagnostic tools exceeds by far what was possible
only a few years ago. Recent advances in the 'omics' technologies drive the
development even further towards whole genome, whole proteome, or whole
metabolome analysis of a given cell, tissue, organ, or even the whole body [ 6 ].
Cutting-edge technology drives the development of the instruments towards an
increase in speed and precision at a higher throughput of samples that can be
analysed at the same time. To bring these cutting edge technologies to the bedside
and into clinical practice still needs further development and investment for the
analytical machinery to implement easy-to-use molecular diagnostics at a rea-
sonable price per patient sample. The sequencing technologies again take the lead
in this; very recently two market leaders in sequencing technology announced the
launching of a new product that is able to analyse a human genome within 1 day at
a price of 1,000 USD. To produce the sequence of an individual human for 1,000
USD was the dream of the scientific community, and today, only 10 years later, we
are for the first time close to the point where it will be possible to generate the
genomic sequence of every patient. The availability of this technique will finally
allow us to establish the basis for truly personalized medicine [ 7 ].
Personalized medicine can be provided as novel tools for molecular diagnostics
become increasingly available at an affordable price. With appropriate diagnostics
the clinician or general practitioner can tailor a medical treatment or a prevention
strategy to an individual patient according to the responding markers on the gene,
protein, or metabolite level. Personalized medicine can be considered as a para-
digm shift transforming treatment-centered medicine to patient-centered disease
management [ 8 ]. The 'omics' technologies, especially the sequencing of the
individual human genome, will be of primary importance as they offer a com-
prehensive set of data about each single patient to the clinician. Stratified medicine
will be replaced by decisions on therapy and medical treatment on the basis of the
individual molecular make-up of patients [ 9 ].
From pharmacogenomic studies it became obvious that the common drug
blockbuster strategy ('one drug fits all') must be revised according to individual
responses. Observations with treated cancer patients indicate that only 25 % of the
patients respond positively to the applied drugs; for most other cancer patients a
treatment will only generate severe side-effects without leverage for the disease
itself [ 10 ].
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