At the upcoming Health-RI Conference (Jan 17, 2019) leading cancer researchers and data scientists show how data, knowledge and clinical decision support tools combine to bring personalized medicine to reality.
Because each patient’s tumor is as genetically unique as the patient, whole genome sequencing of tumors offers the possibility of identifying the genetic and epigenetic changes that transform normal cells into cancerous cells, potentially allowing highly targeted drug therapies to be used to halt the process and/or destroy cancer cells. It not only represents the epitome of personalized medicine, it could also help to mitigate the side-effects and costs associated with administering expensive drugs to patients who will not respond to them.
In a parallel session titled ‘Optimizing the wellness of individuals by predicting disease and delivering personalized treatments’ at the upcoming Health-RI Conference (Thursday, January 17, 2019 in Utrecht), eminent scientists from the Netherlands’ leading cancer research groups will highlight key developments on the road to implementing this new approach to cancer care.
Prof. Edwin Cuppen, Scientific Director of the Hartwig Medical Foundation, will discuss the need for cost-effective whole genome sequencing, more informative biomarkers, targeted biomarker-based drug development and effective clinical decision support.
Prof. Paul van Diest, Head of the Department of Pathology at University Medical Center Utrecht, will talk about the Netherlands’ Pathology Image Exchange (PIE) program – a national platform for image exchange between pathology labs that will facilitate the second opinions and re-evaluation of images needed to add expert knowledge to the personalized medicine equation.
Dr. Ir. Xander Verbeek, Head of Health Informatics and Data Science at the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization (IKNL) and Prof. Dr. Ignace d’Hingh, surgical oncologist at the Catharina Cancer Institute, Eindhoven, will offer insights into how -omics data from techniques such as genome sequencing can be combined with expert knowledge to create FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) databases and tools for use in research and clinical decision making.
All the parallel sessions at the Health-RI Conference are interactive, so if lively discussion about personalized medicine and how it can be brought to reality fits with your own work or interests, make a note in your diary (Thursday, January 17, 2019) and register to attend this thought-provoking session and contribute your ideas.